Thirty Kisses
by Arisadonna
Summary: Ryou claims that he'll be able to kiss Ichigo a total of thirty times all in one day. And to Ichigo, she finds that it's truly impossible. But nothing's impossible in fanfiction! Yet, of course, Ichi doesn't know that. RxI
1. Look Over Here

Booya! It is I, the master of leaving you evil cliffhangers for all my stories because I take so long to update them! Bwahaha! I am back for the forty-second time with a brand new story to cliff-hang you all! Though you might all beat me with a wooden broom for taking my precious time to update it, you will, at the same time, love me. Well, that's only if you're a RyouxIchigo shipper, which if you're reading this story, you most likely are. And if you're not, you're probably just scrolling down to the review button so you can rant to me about how I suck and that RyouxIchigo is the worst couple alive. If that's the case, feel free! Either way, good review or not, it's still a review. 3 Which, mind you, is an important factor for this story.

You see, I have this arrangement with my fanfiction that I will most definitely not update a story if I don't get enough reviews for the chapter. Of course, getting these reviews won't actually guarantee a new chapter, but it does help. For each chapter, I want 10 reviews. Why, 10, you ask? Simple. This story will be thirty chapters. That's a fact. So, if there are ten reviews for each chapter, that means 300 reviews in total. Which sounds REALLY nice. So, be kind, rewind. Erm, I mean, review. 3

EDIT: Added lyrics to a song at the beginning of the chapter. I figured I'd do that with all of them now. Cause lyrics are fun and spiffy things! D

**I. LOOK OVER HERE**

_So little time  
Try to understand that I'm  
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game  
I try to stay awake and remember my name  
But everybody's changing  
And I don't feel the same_  
-'Everybody's Changing' by Keane

Flicking her nose, he forced her mind back to reality. "Hey! Are you an idiot or something? You're supposed to be working!" The rude, rich blond would accept no excuses. She had a job to do and daydreaming was unacceptable. Neither was slacking, or resting, or sleeping, or singing, or dancing, or any other form of action that didn't have much work included--although since Ryou was an expert dancer, he did not see that dancing did take a lot of hard work effort.

"Nya? What?" Sweet, red-haired Ichigo finally realized what was going on, removing her head from the tip of the broom. But the sudden shock from suddenly hearing Ryou's voice, caused a lost of balance.

"NYA!" She screamed, landing face first onto the hard floor. Typical action of the little miss strawberry, who was truly not the brightest fruit in the basket. "My chin ...," she whined, slowly sitting up. "Did you really have to randomly pop up like that? You scared me!"

Ryou simply rolled his eyes. He scared her? He wasn't the boogeyman or a slug or a molded sandwich. In his opinion, he was not, at the least, scary."Stop complaining. You've only been here for twenty-five minutes and you're already slacking off work. I don't have neither the time nor the patience to constantly get you back on track." It was the same routine every day. Ichigo makes one mistake and he'll be right behind her to complain. Okay, so maybe he was scary in some ways. Possibly worse than a molded sandwich.

The girl was used to it, but even if it was something that occurred every single day, she still always grew upset. "I swear, I HATE you!" Don't you have anything better to do? I'm probably the only one in this stupid cafe who works anyway! No, wait. I AM the only one in this stupid cafe who actually works!" Again, a typical act of Ichigo. Her speech was a simple, daily routine at the pink, girly cafe.

He knew she was speaking the the truth, though. After all, the employees here weren't hired from experience, but because they were Mews. So whether they were a good worker or not didn't really matter, for they'd still have their job in the end. And unlike the other four girls that worked there, Ichigo was the only one that even really did anything. The other girls had their little ways of never getting the job done, whether they wanted to or not.

"I don't care. Instead of worrying about whether anyone else is working, you should just concentrate on your job," Ryou smirked, leaning down to flick her nose again.

Still on the floor, Ichigo beated the ground with her feet as she was filled with rage. Ryou always had a way with getting her upset. Actually, Ryou had a way with getting pretty much anything he wanted. A quality he had, which molded sandwiches did not include.

Of course, Ryou could care less whether she worked or not. Let's just say he had reasons of his own for treating her the way he did. Could it be ... love?

No, Ryou would never admit to falling in love. He just loved messing with her mind and raising her rage up. He had a mighty good time doing it, too. It was like when starting Kindergarten, where the little boys teased and pulled the hair of the girls they liked to show their affection. But of course, Ryou did not have any sort of affection for Ichigo. Not that he'd admit that.

"Ichigo, dear, you have a very long day ahead of you. It's only morning, and things get very busy when the afternoon comes, so you better be prepared to work as much as you can." He gave another smirk, speaking in a calm voice, waiting for the redhead's reaction.

And immediately, she froze. After all, hearing Ryou say the word "dear" to her wasn't exactly a common event in these parts. "N-nya?" What ... is wrong with you?"

If Ichigo had a wish, any wish at all, it would be able to read what exactly went on in Ryou's mind. It was something she could never do, but absolutely wished for it, considering it would be of much use. Never was she able to understand what he was usually thinking and figured if she could, she would not constantly get upset after every little action of his. Considering the fact that she constantly got angry was because she could never find a reason for his doings.

"You are such an idiot," he muttered, turning to walk up the white staircase, which led to his bedroom. "Get to work, Ichigo. I don't want to have to pick on you again when I get back."

Once again, he had touched a nerve. "Idiot? I am NOT at all an idiot! I have done all that you've told me too, and the only thing you ever do is waste your own time just trying to annoy me! I think that sums up to who the real idiot in this situation is."

"Yeah, it's you." He crossed his arms, stopping in his path, for he wouldn't miss the chance to cause her much more frustration. "And there are more ways to prove you're the bigger idiot."

"I'm not an idiot! What is with you and this idiotness anyway?" She growled, before realizing that she was still sitting on the floor ... like an idiot. Embarrassed, she quickly got on her two feet and stood up straight. "I so hate you right now, Ryou." Although she seemed to hate him every other single day of her life as well.

He snickered, looking back at her, before shaking his head. "It took you this long to get up? Did you even notice you were still on the floor?" He was beginning to wonder if she was actually trying to prove to him what her level of high idiocity really was. And with the high knowledge he had, he knew that that wasn't even a word.

"I-I-I knew I was on the floor!" She stuttered, nervously, trying to cover up the real truth. "I just didn't feel like getting up, that's all. What does it matter to you anyway?"

"I bet I can kiss you about ... maybe thirty times when you least expect it or even when you expect it and you won't be able to do a single thing to stop or prevent me from doing so."

"WHAT?" She screamed, eyes growing wide. She wondered what that had to do with being an idiot or whether it was ever meant to be related to the situation at all.

Again, the smirk was shown. "I really believe I'm capable of this task and in the end, you definitely won't be bothered with it at all."

She blushed, though she was filled with anger. Maybe her rage was the cause of the bright red shades on her face. Why would he kiss her anyway? And so many times! "Thirty, you say? What, you're gonna try kissing me once every day for a month?"

"Nope. I'm gonna kiss thirty times all in one day. Today, in fact."

"What?" Another scream. She really could not believe what he was telling her or what the reason was for this plan in the first place. After all, there wasn't much of a connection between being proven an idiot and being kissed thirty times by an idiot? Aside from the fact that both situations were, in fact, related to the term "idiot". "L-look! What are you trying to do? I have a boyfriend and you know that!" She protested, realizing she hadn't mentioned Masaya when he first brought up the idea of kissing.

Masaya was her all-time perfect boyfriend. He loved her deeply, just as she loved him, and from the very beginning, he had always been there by her side. It was definitely wrong to have some other guy (especially a jerk like Ryou) kissing her when she had a boyfriend that was completely loyal to her.

"Oh, yes. The precious Aoyama. Isn't he like thousands of miles away right now? You do know that long distance relationships never work, right?" He leaned up against the cafe's walls, not really taking much interest in what Ichigo had to say.

She pouted, trying to find the right words to reply with. "Listen, you! Mine and Masaya's relationship is just fine! A-a-and either way, it's none of your business!" She turned on her heel and began walking fast towards the exit of the cafe, though she sensed footsteps coming behind her, which made her wonder why he was beginning to follow her. "I can't take any more of your stupid comments! I am leaving! You can fire me for all I care, too! Or better yet, I quit!"

"Ichigo, look over here."

She rolled her eyes, stopping in her tracks. And though she didn't want to hear another word from him, she slowly turned around. "What now, Ryou? Can't you just--?" But her words were cut off as she felt lips attach themselves to hers. Her eyes wide, she began to beat on Ryou's arms in attempts to remove him away from her.

Still, her attempts were of no use for he didn't pull back. At least not until a few seconds when he decided himself to end the kiss. And still, he kept the trademark smirk. "Enjoy?"

Her lips quivered as she touched them with her own fingers. "You ... kissed ..." She had no words left to express. She could not believe she had let her guard down much too easily. "YOU JERK!" She shouted, just before sending a loud SMACK! across his face. "How could you?"

"You saw it coming," he replied, with no such reaction for the slap he had just received. He knew he deserved it, therefore he knew he had no right to get angry. "I told you I would kiss you, so you really shouldn't be surprised. And you'll be seeing this twenty-nine more times today, so get used to it now." And that was all he had to say, before turning around and once again, walked towards his room.

"I really can't believe you would do such a thing!" She shouted after him, although she knew he wasn't actually listening to her anymore. She wondered deeply as to what were his reasons for even doing this. Was it some kind of punishment (which didn't seem fair since she did actually work)? Was her trying to prove something? If that was the case, then he didn't seem to be trying to prove she was an idiot. If anything, he was proving to her that he, himself, was one for coming up for a stupid idea such as that one.

Maybe the best action for the moment was to ask. "Why are you doing this, Ryou?" Or maybe it wasn't.

He stopped in his tracks, yet he didn't not turn around. There was only silence between them, as Ichigo awaited for an answer. He then slowly turned his head slightly back to face her. "Get back to work, will you? You silly girl ..." And he walked up the steps leaving her in continuous confusion.

"Ryou!" She wanted an answer from him. She wasn't going to continue in this defenseless position as he kissed a girl who already had her heart taken by another. But he didn't answer and disappeared from her view when reaching the second floor.

'Maybe he wants me to fall in love with him or ... something?' She thought, getting a hand to her chin as she remained in wonder. She stucked out her tongue in disgust from even coming up with such an explanation. 'Ha! Yeah, right! He is SUCH a dummy. My heart belongs to Masaya and him alone. There's NO way I'd go for a dork like Ryou. Gross me!'

Rolling her eyes, she reached for the fallen broom, which rested undisturbed on the ground since she had fallen after Ryou's appearance.

"Am I disturbing anything"? asked a quite familiar voice from behind the busy red-haired catgirl. Thankfully for Ichigo, this voice was not Ryou's, unless he had consumed from random voice changer item from his wacko lab, which was truly in doubt. So, instead of figuring this was the case, her lips curved into a smile.

"Keiichiro!" She giggled, turning around to face him, and she was pleased to see that it was indeed Keiichiro and not silly Ryou again holding some sort of voice-changing machine. Unlike Ryou, the pony-tailed pastry chef was sweet and was quite the gentleman. "Nope! Not disturbing anything!"

He gave a kind smile. Sometimes Ichigo wondered how any guy could possibly be this nice. Even Masaya wasn't this nice. Though maybe he was. Well ... okay, she wondered how any guy aside from Masaya could be this nice. "I could have sworn I had just finished hearing Ryou's voice. Was he here?"

Ichigo cringed. She couldn't bear hearing the jerk's name any longer. "He just went upstairs."

"Hmm," Keiichiro smiled, as he shrugged. "Well, it's best to just let him be then. And you, Ichigo, are you alright? Your face seems to be awfully red. If you're sick, you should really get home and get some rest. I did hear of a certain flu going around."

Red? Her face was red? Impossible! It was probably just from frustration and anger. Or ... 'Am I blushing? OH MY BLOODY GOSH! NO WAY!' The thought only made her redder. Was this an effect from Ryou's kiss? Again, it was a total impossibility! "I-I'm fine! Not to worry!"

He nodded, turning to walk away again. "Well, I do hope so. I must return to the kitchen now, but if you are in need of anything, don't hesitate to let me know. By the way, you've just received a letter. It just read her name and the address of the cafe. Why wasn't it just sent to her own house? Eh, probably just spam mail.

"Um ... okay! Thanks, Keiichiro!" She smiled at him, before he turned and walked away to the direction of the kitchen.

Not opening the letter at that moment just yet--increasing your suspense, don't it?--Ichigo quickly grabbed at her cheeks. "Oh my butterfingers!" She exclaimed, shouting out some random saying that wasn't ever really in her vocabulary. "Why am I blushing?" She shouted, loudly to herself, though she soon came to realizations that if she didn't know the answer that question, asking herself would do no good of finding it.

'It is NOT because of that jerk! Impossible!' She chose to completely deny the idea, and stay with the belief that anything dealing with Ryou Shirogane was pretty much impossible. Unless you were stating that Ryou is a complete careless jerk who comes up with the most pointless and strangest ideas. Now THAT was possible! Though, you could say it was more like a fact.

Either way, blushing over that blondie was something she decided the very first day they met that would never occur. Again, something impossible. She would NOT have any love-like thoughts relating whatsoever to Ryou. Of course, the idea constantly backfired since she had much more than one or two thoughts about him in that manner.

But they were all ignored. After all, why would she need to think romantically about Ryou when she had her perfect relationship with Masaya.

Then again, that didn't really change the fact that the thoughts WERE there, no matter how perfect her little relationship was. Having spoken of this secretly to Minto once before, the blue-haired girl suggested that maybe her relationship with Masaya wasn't as perfect as she thought. If it was, why would she need to think of Ryou?

Though, her thoughts of Ryou weren't really anything romantic. It's not like she was stuck in some typical fanfiction story where this whole time, she had deep inner feelings for her rude employer. It was more like just an attraction.

Ryou was gorgeous. She admitted that much. Actually, in her words, he was "hot" minus the fact that he was a complete jerk. Still, that didn't change her thoughts of thinking of Ryou was a beautiful bishounen, because that was indeed what he was. All girls were pretty much attracted to him, without much resistance, seeing as how they were fascinated with his on-going charisma, which was just let out naturally, without much to keep it away.

And Ichigo was one of those girls. Boyfriend or not, she WAS attracted to Ryou, even though with this attraction, came no feelings of romance.

And so, Ichigo ignored any of Minto's silly suggestions of a not-so-perfect relationship with Masaya. Besides, what could possibly be wrong? They were both happy, weren't they? It's true that Masaya chose to continue studying in England while Ichigo chose to stay in Tokyo, but so what?

And then, Ichigo's thoughts were wandered to the kiss. The kiss from Ryou, which she not at the least expected (even though he warned her only minutes before). The truth was that the kiss wasn't at the slightest bit romantic. It was just plain dry with a taste of cheese?--which led Ichigo to wonder if he had some cheddar crackers earlier. Either way, the kiss was completely forced and unwanted.

She, of course, however, still blushed. And she had to admit it was still a pretty good kiss. Unromantic, dry, and forced, yes, but still not so bad, none the less.

Now that she thought about it, that kiss was actually the first they shared together. Sure, they kissed several times as cats, but as Ryou noted before, they didn't really count for anything. After all, would you ever consider telling a friend that your first kiss was received while you were transformed into a feline for several hours? I think not.

Still, they had shared their first kiss together. Of course, Ichigo had been kissed several times before by Masaya, and--twitch--Kisshu, but she had never really been kissed by Ryou after all this time.

BUT! Ichigo didn't care. Why would she? It was just Ryou. Caring about kissing him would be completely unlike her and completely unloyal to her oh-so-loyal boyfriend, which she could not dare to do. Oh, no, no, no. She would not waste her time thinking about kissing some blond, rich, snobby jerk of a boss that spent all his time throwing rude comments in her direction and finding excuses to accuse her of not working.

Whatever. It wasn't really necessary to continue thinking about it. FINALLY pushing her thoughts away, she looked down at the warn-out envelope between her fingers--which was all smudged up from her wrinkling it constantly due to her angry thoughts of dear, ol' Ryou. She began wondering what it was, though she could have found that out many moments ago if she had not wandered through her mind for so long. So now--finally satisfied with leaving the audience in complete suspense--she ripped it open and pulled out a sheet of paper. Reading the contents of the letter, her eyes went wide.

"WHAT?"

**-End, Part I.**

Oooh! I left you in suspense, didn't I? DIDN'T I? I bet you all want to know what's in the letter, don't you? I bet you do. P Well, if you want to find out, review. Ten reviews will bring you the answer to what's in the letter and what's in store for the wacko couple. Heck, if you have multiple accounts, just review with them all! I don't care! As long as I have ten reviews, good ones or bad, I'll be a happy chippy. 3

Now, to leave you with my wonderful cliff-hanging voice! clears throat WHAT could possibly be in the letter Ichigo has received? WHO sent this letter? WHY was this letter sent to the cafe and not her house? WHEN will Ryou give Ichi another smack-o-roo--or in the natural English language--a kiss? WHERE in the world is Carmen Sandiego? HOW does Carmen Sandiego have anything to do with this fanfiction story? Find out in the next chapter of ... dun dun dun! ... Thirty Smooches! Erm, I mean, kisses. 3


	2. News and Letter

Thank you all so much! I got my ten reviews! All in one day! You're all really the best out there! And not only that, but I got eleven extra reviews! YAY! So, as promised, here is the second chapter. This one is way longer than the first one, and I have to admit, it was so much more fun to write.

So, here's the deal. Chapter One was told in third-person point-of-view, though it concentrated more on Ichigo's thoughts and feelings. The beginning of this chapter does the same thing, but then after the letter is read—and it will be read in this chapter3—it will concentrate on Ryou's points.

The way I'm going to set it up from now on, is that each chapter will focus on different points. The odd-numbered chapters will focus on Ichigo's thoughts. The even-numbered chapters will focus on Ryou's thoughts. Though, throughout it all, it'll be told from third-person point of view.

The reason this chapter has a piece of Ichigo's point and then transforms into Ryou is because I started it off with Ichigo and then I came up with the idea a bit later. And because I'm an idiot and didn't want to rewrite anything, I left it that way. Either way, hope you like it! 3

On a side note, I know the letter is just so typical and cliché, but this is supposed to be humorous in some idiotic way, so most of the things in this story is supposed to be cliché purposely. And I know, typical way to get rid of the ol' boyfriend. Shoot me if you want, I don't care. X3

**II. NEWS / LETTER**

_I don't care if Monday's blue,  
Tuesday's grey and Wednesday, too,  
Thursday, I don't care about you,  
It's Friday, I'm in love._  
-'Friday, I'm in Love' by The Cure

Color from Ichigo's face began to fade as she read the words that were written on the sheet of paper in her hands. At that instant, she felt as if she was in a horror movie, and the killer was looking over her shoulder as she read the death threat. Then again, the note had nothing to do with death threats of any of sorts, but simply reading the true contents of the letter made her want to form her own threat. Though, she erased the idea from her mind, when she decided she didn't want her obituaries to read "ICHIGO MOMOMIYA: HANGED AFTER READING MAIL".

Still, as she reread the letter several times in her head, somehow the words just seemed to grow stranger and stranger each time, as if slowly the letter just seemed to float around the page, mixing together in order to not make much sense in the end. It's not as though the writer of the letter was a four-year-old who didn't know how to write neatly, because the writing was indeed neat. It was just that what the letter said was just too shocking for Ichigo's taste.

In Ichi's mind, there wasn't any real explanation for the formation of the letter and automatically came to the conclusion that it had to be a fake. And the fake letter was created by none other than the one true person that made her want to stab herself with the same pen she used to write down the cafe orders. "RYOU HUBERT SHIROGANE!" She screamed loudly his full name, something she had discovered in ways she did not dare say, and figured it would the best form of blackmail someday, but at that moment, it could not be helped. AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ryou's Middle Name © Cherry. x3

Ichigo, angry with rage--though what else could she be angry with, stormed up the staircase which led to the second story of the cafe. Upon reaching this destination, she burst through the first door she encountered, knowing exactly what would find behind it. "Ryou! Why and how could you--?"

"Don't you EVER knock?" Well, maybe not exactly.

A blush formed on her face, realizing it was again one of those times where she would rush in and find a shirtless Ryou, a typical, infamous scene that she should have known would eventually pop up in this fanfiction story. Though, of course, Ichigo had not the slightest clue that she was currently actually in a fanfiction story, since, of course, characters are not supposed to know that. But, with that being besides the current point ... "Don't you EVER put clothes on?"

"It's my room. I do what I want." Well, he made his point right there. "Listen, if you're gonna keep with this bursting into my room thing, you should really be more careful," he crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. "One of these days, I might be missing more than just a shirt, and I'm sure none of us want that to happen, now do we?" No one, besides sick Ryou fangirls reading this story. "And considering you've already seen just the towel ..."

"STOP!" She screamed. She didn't want to hear another word, and he was already saying too much, and that didn't help with the fact that her face looked redder than her hair. Any moment now, she expected a bull to just come and ram her over. Something she preferred that standing there looking like Bob the Tomato from Veggietales, while Ryou commented about how that at any moment she could actually get a peek at full frontal Ryou nudity.

"Are you sure you don't rush in here on purpose when I'm only wearing half of my clothes? Because it seems to be becoming quite a routine now--"

"Okay! Stop!" The blushing went on, and didn't seem to have plans of finishing off any time soon. And poor Ichigo couldn't just get to her point just yet. "I didn't come here for this!" That was a fact, indeed, on her part.

Not bothering to waste time in looking for a shirt--an act fangirls are now squealing over behind their computer screens--he took a seat on the edge of his bed and faced her. "Then why did you come here, Miss Momomiya? It must be awfully important." You didn't need to be a rocket scientist to sense Ryou's sarcastic tone, even though Ryou was pretty much one himself.

She took a deep breath, which was very much needed with all the pressure put on her from recent events that occurred not even five minutes prior to the present moment, and to her unfortunate luck, she was still red. "Look! I came to ask you about this!" She waved the infamous envelope in front of him, an item many are very curious about. "I know you're cruel, but this is the worst prank you could possibly pull!"

"What? Your paycheck?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow at her. He had no possible idea as to what she was speaking of, but he figured if something was making her scream in a high-pitched voice such as the one she was using at that moment, that had to be the answer. "Look, it wasn't my idea to lower your salary, but you really don't deserve getting all that money for not doing much around here."

"No, not my paycheck--wait! You're lowering my salary?" She screamed at him, but quickly shook her head. He was doing it yet again, getting her to move away from the actual topic that was at hand. Of course, that didn't change the fact that this little act of his wasn't something she'd plan revenge for later. "No, I'm talking about this, you little creep!" She took the infamous letter out of the envelope again, before shoving it at him.

He only stared at it in confusion for several moments, before reading the words aloud so that our impatient audience may finally learn of what is going on:

"It's time we break up. Love, Masaya. P.S. Still loved the time we spent together! Hope we can talk soon! v"

Ryou was actually shocked. He was stuck in temporary silence unsure of what to say of it all. He looked through his thoughts to try and decide what he would say about it. The first thought was definitely not 'Zomg! Ichigo's free! Now she can be all mine! Bwahaha!', though he hated to admit that it did involuntarily slipped through his mind for a brief second. "Um ... wow. This was ... unexpecting. You got this today?"

Okay, so it's a true fact that Ryou was never speechless. And the fact that he was too surprised to say anything now was actually a surprise itself. But what else could he have said? It wasn't exactly a moment in time to spread unnecessary rude comments towards Ichigo, since she did just get dumped not many minutes before.

However, Ryou couldn't exactly finish his thoughts due to a light smack on the head. And before he could even let out a quick 'oww!' to express the surprise and very slight pain he felt from that little whack, Ichigo began ranting in front of him, constantly dramatically motioning her hands all over the place. "Don't try playing all innocent with me, creep!" He wondered if she had finally found a new replacement word for the overused 'jerk'. "I know what you're up to! Earlier today, you bragged to me about how long distance relationships never worked and now you're trying to convince me with some false letter that Masaya wants to break up with me? How could you try to trick me with something like this?"

If Ryou wasn't surprised enough about the letter, he sure was now. She was actually accusing him of dumping her as Masaya? As soon as he asked himself that, he realized that the question itself was just plain dumb. He didn't really have much of a reason to actually even write such a letter. First of all, he wasn't that low that he'd do such a thing just to take enjoyment out of Ichigo's misery. And second, it's not as if he even liked her to want and get rid of Masaya.

Well, not that anyone really knew.

"You think I did this? Trust me, Ichigo; I don't think I'd even do something like this." He was sure to tell her so. "So, before you go accusing me of stupid, silly pranks like fake break-up letters, make sure you get all of your facts together and actually think of all the possibilities of an explanation. Either someone else can't stand you enough to do this, or ..." He gave a quick shrug. "Maybe it's actually true."

He couldn't exactly tell what Ichigo was thinking, but by the change her face expression showed, she must have been thinking clearly about what he had said. But what did she have to think about? He wouldn't do something like that, even with his constant need to destroy her life. Though, he wasn't quite sure if she was aware of that, even if he had already noted her of it. Sometimes, Ichigo could be pretty slow in these cases.

"You're not lying, right? Do you swear on ...?" She paused for a second, and he could sense she was going to say 'mother', which though he'd never do any sort of swearing towards her, he'd still say he would, knowing Ichigo would have to believe that. "Do you swear on ... the Mew Project?"

Ryou couldn't help it. He chuckled. The Mew Project? Though he was deadly serious about it, it sounded pretty silly when Ichigo said it. Trying to hide a smile, still slightly amused by her suggestion, he nodded. "Yes, I swear on the Mew Project. I did not write a fake letter to Masaya asking to break up with you."

Replaying what he said in his head, he could swear it sounded like sarcasm, though he was completely serious about the comment. He wondered if Ichigo knew of that.

She stayed in silence for a long time. So long, in fact, that he was beginning to wonder if she had just suddenly lost her voice or if she really just didn't have anything to say. Either way, the silence was getting a bit annoying to him. Maybe he should have just said a little comment that'll--"Oh, cheezits! So it's REAL?" Okay, so she was alive at least. Her shrieking, though, was probably worse than the silence.

Her lips quivered. "No, no, no, no, no!" Oh yes, he decided, silent Ichigo was definitely better. "It can't be true! Masaya couldn't possibly want to break with me!"

He was trying to feel sympathetic towards her, but it was nearly impossible. Who could really feel sorry for something with a screeching high-pitched voice like hers? Maybe that's why Masaya broke up with her, he wondered.

But before he could continue with wonders, his eyes went wide as soon as he realized she was awfully close to drenching herself in tears. Ryou always did hate to see a girl with the waterworks, but then again, he wasn't so great at comforting them either. "Maybe it's just a misunderstanding? Maybe it wasn't supposed to be for you?" He questioned.

Her face was quivering as her eyes grew watery, and he came to the conclusion that she looked more like a little girl who lost her puppy rather than someone who just got dumped. So, he thought hard about it and tried to think of what was normally done when little girls lost their puppies, which led him to patting her head lightly with hesitation.

Afterwards, he wondered if that was really a typical action in these situations.

"Oh, so you think he's breaking up with his other secret girlfriend? That's even worse!" So much for trying to make her feel better. All he did was made her shout louder. "How could this be happening?"

Okay, so it wasn't exactly an emotional moment, but more like a scene from a cheap comedy. She didn't even just look little anymore. Now she looked like she was close to a four-year old. Ryou could feel his hair standing up from all the whining she was doing. "H-h-hey, don't cry? … Please?"

"How could he not even give a reason as to why he wants us to break up?" Ryou was beginning to wonder why she was shouting to him about it all. Sure, he was the only one around at that current moment, but they weren't exactly 'friends'. He was just the boss, and she was simply the tortured employee.

Transforming from a four-year old, she seemed to have turned into something more between an angry cat and a lion, for she was doing some growling and grumbling now, which really couldn't be understood. She lifted her leg up and used it to kick the wall as hard as she could. Of course, it did very little to harm the wall and did very much to harm her. "Ouchies!" She grabbed at her foot before hopping around the room on one leg.

Ryou, himself, was beginning to get pretty dizzy just by watching her. He felt as if he were tied between baby-sitting and counseling, both of which he chose to never do, and for very good reason, too. Ichigo was the reminder of what these reasons were.

He stood up and grabbed her shoulders to stop her from hopping. "Ichigo, please calm down. Take a deep breath and … I guess we can figure this all out. Or … erm, you can figure this all out, considering this really has nothing to do with me," he spoke calmly, but he wasn't actually being too much of help, though unlike other times, he didn't exactly have a rude tone.

He really didn't want to have anything to do with this situation, but if she were to keep yelling—or hopping--he was bound to jump out the second story window, screaming like bloody murder.

But still, she wasn't exactly in a calming mood herself and it didn't seem like she was even planning on getting calm anytime soon either. Her eyes were growing red as if she hadn't slept in days and if looks could kill, Ryou would have been shot lifeless onto the floor, which he really would have preferred at this moment.

Whether he was considering dying right there or not, he was still pretty frightened when Ichigo's face expression seemed to show that she was ready to tackle him down at any second and just chew his head off.

"Don't tell me what to do, you sickening jerk!" Sickening? What'd he do now? "If there's anymore I should be mad at, it's you!" Oh, great. Instead of being upset at the idiot who dumped her, she was getting upset with Ryou.

She tried pulling him away from as she began to beat on his chest, which … to this moment had actually still remained completely bare.

A blush crept onto both the redhead's face and Ryou's as they realized what she was doing and … what exactly Ichigo was touching. "OH MY BUTTERFINGERS! Can't you put on a stupid shirt?" She shouted, walking backwards away from him. She grabbed some pieces of clothing that rested on his desk chair, before throwing them at him.

He managed to dodge a few shirts, but some still managed to hit him in the face. Suddenly, everything seemed to be déjà vu. He could have sworn he had had this experience once before. He backspaced that thought. He _had_ had this experience several times before.

"What is your problem? I'm actually trying to help you!" Well, in some way or another. He really had admitted that he wasn't so good at comforting girls. "And this is the way I get treated in return?" He sent a glare at her, as he took one of his black vests that had hit him and pulled it on. Ah, he was getting cold anyway.

As for Ichigo, she seemed to have gotten quiet. Was she finished? He had hope. "… I'm fat, aren't I?" He paused to look at her with widening eyes. Okay, what did THAT have to do with anything?

"What does THAT have to do with anything?" Well, he had to ask her aloud.

"Because! Maybe that's why he dumped me! Maybe he doesn't like it when girls get fat!" Ryou prayed. He prayed for a gun. Though he would have really wanted to shoot Ichigo, it probably wouldn't have been enough to get rid of her. She would either not die and shout even more at him, or if she did die, she'd just come back as a ghost and yell at him some more. So he hoped he could shoot himself instead.

"Well, if you want to help so much, then answer me this. Did he find someone else? Did I get too clingy? Was being too far away from each other not working for him? Does he think I'm not good enough for him? Does he think he's not good enough for me? Tell me! Why did he break up with me?" She shouted, somehow trying to force him to cooperate with her.

He had unleashed a beast. He was doomed.

He rolled his eyes, getting slightly annoyed by her constant shouting. It was still morning. And she probably wouldn't even get out of his sight until nightfall, which meant more than twelve hours of this. He actually felt like crying for the first time in his life. Well, maybe not the first time, but it had been a long time since he actually cried.

"Ichigo, if you can just—" But he wouldn't be able to speak. How could he make out a complete sentence, when all she did was continue to ramble on? He had to do something that would just shut her up already.

"It's not fair that I can't even get an explanation out of this! If he's going to break up with me, he can at least—" And like had happened earlier, she was cut off by a kiss. This day really was filled with déjà vu.

But unlike the other kiss, this one didn't even last a second. Ryou wasn't even thinking of his little bet with her. All he wanted to do was make her quiet once and for all. He had had the choices of either kissing her or whacking her across the head with a chair.

With the latter, however, he wouldn't hear the end of it when she woke up again. So he went with the first choice, which did insist of more shouting, but at least she'd shut up about the Masaya thing.

"Can you please just shut up for just a minute?" He asked with complete frustration. He had kept his cool for a long time now, but it was time that he had had quite enough. "Listen, none of your questions and concerns are going to be answered by shouting at me! It's not like everything's just going to be put into its rightful place by constantly screaming about it! So, you just need to relax, will you?"

She stood there quietly. He took note that whenever he made a comment, it would shut her up at least for a few seconds. But he made a second note, that no matter what he would say, she would always eventually speak up again. "Why the heck did you kiss me? AGAIN?"

Silence seemed to be worth more than gold now.

"You stupid, stupid idiot!" Well, her shouting was starting again, only this time, she chose to result in throwing large objects as well. She grabbed a large unknown book that lay on his desk and threw it at him, yet he blocked it off with his arm. He was at least thankful she didn't choose to throw sharp objects at him.

As she continued to complain about him kissing her, an argument he chose to let her have with herself while he remained out of it, he reached down and grabbed the book that was thrown. Just a book on computers. He cursed under his breath, upset that the book wasn't a manual on what to do when attacked by psycho, little redheads.

He looked up, managing to catch some words she was saying. Maybe it was worth listening. "—have no right to keep kissing me like this! I may be single now, but that doesn't mean that you can just—" Nope, there was nothing worth listening to.

He chose to let her go on, while he flipped through the computer book. Maybe there was something more interesting in there than what she had to say.

But he couldn't exactly check for that after getting knocked successfully in the head by yet another book. He looked at the cover. The Velveteen Rabbit? Where'd that come from? Oh well, at least it was smaller than the computer book. "Would you stop throwing things at me?"

"You're the one ignoring me, while you got off to Neverland in your little book thinger!" Thinger? Her normal vocabulary seemed to disappear when she was upset.

"Alright, listen to me. You have to reason to blame me in this situation. I wasn't the one who broke up with you, okay?" Well, he had to admit, he was right about that. And he knew she knew that he was, too. What gave her the right to yell at him when the cause of her anger was sitting all cozy, relaxed, and unharmed in England?

Ichigo took a breath. Ryou took that as a sign that she was finally calming herself down. He could now feel tears of happiness forming in his eyes. Her voice quieted down. "Alright, I'll stop, okay? I'm … sorry," she whispered, most likely to keep from shouting again, but was said loud enough for him to hear.

Quietness and an apology? Could the day even get better now? Either way, he was thankful that she had finally come to her senses and realized that it really wasn't his fault that any of this happened.

He, then, began to wonder what the time was. With all the shouting, he figured half of the day must have gone by already, and eventually the sun would go down. He looked down at his watch, and was quite surprised at what he saw. 9:42? In the morning? That only lasted twenty minutes? There was more to come ahead?

He really was doomed. Yet again.

Either way, he hoped that if she was going to try to figure out the meaning to this whole situation, she was going to do it in a settled, calm, and ordinary manner.

"But I don't understand how he could be so low." She was questioning things again, but at least her volume went down so many levels. "How could he just send a letter? Couldn't he at least have the decency to tell me in person. Even over the phone would have been a better way to do it. I thought he was better than this!"

Ryou had to disagree with that, though he didn't comment. He had always sensed something wrong about that Aoyama guy. The whole "perfect" picture thing was really had to believe. He simply shrugged and crossed his arms. "Maybe he was too busy and couldn't fly over here to tell you himself. And maybe he didn't have the time to have a conversation with you over the phone." He wasn't being sarcastic, but he wasn't serious either. He just really couldn't find anything to say. He was afraid he might say something to make her shout again.

"Oh, but he has the time to sit down to write and mail me a letter?" Strike one for him. Her volume went up a few notches, but at least she still hadn't gone back to shouting. "Why are you even siding with him anyway? Did you know this was coming? Were you a part of this little break-up plot?"

"I am not siding with him," he said calmly, hoping she'd quiet down a bit again. "You, of all people, know how much I couldn't stand that Aoyama guy. Never have," he admitted, leaning back against the wall next to his bed. His head was beginning to hurt a little.

Judging by her sudden face expression, Ichigo seemed to have been surprised by his comment. "You never liked Masaya? I … never knew that," she said. He wondered if that was the truth. He could have sworn she was smarter than that. How could she have never sensed the silent rivalry they had?

He didn't go into much detail, however, and simply shrugged his shoulders again. "Well, now you know, I guess," he spoke quietly. He was really getting tired of speaking of Aoyama, but considering Ichigo had just read of his wanting to break up, he really didn't think he had much of a choice, but to listen to her comments. "So, it really doesn't surprise me that he did something stupid like this. Besides the whole letter thing, he's still just an idiot for breaking up with you in general."

Whoops. Perhaps he said too much.

She didn't seem to understand what he had meant by that though. She tilted her head in confusion. "W-what …? An idiot for breaking up with me?"

Yup, he said too much. "Well, you're probably the only girl who'd be able to stand that guy. He thinks he's so perfect, eventually, no one's going to tolerate him."

"Oh." Good save. "That's a little mean, don't you think? He doesn't consider himself perfect. He's not conceited, you know." She went over to his bed, and sat at the edge of it as she tapped her feet against the floor. "What about you? You're the little rich boy who constantly thinks so highly of himself."

He raised an eyebrow. So, this whole time, between him and the Aoyama guy, he was seen as the conceited one? Ichigo had so much to learn. He began bending down to pick up the clothes Ichigo had thrown earlier which had landed on the floor. "I never said I was perfect. I just don't let people boss me around. And being rich has nothing to do with perfection. There isn't such a thing as perfect, which is another reason why I knew Aoyama wasn't as perfect as you claimed him to be."

Ichigo simply sighed, dropping her back on the bed's mattress. Since when had she just done things so freely, such as lying on his bed, he wondered. "I just … can't believe he's breaking up with me. What about everything we had gone through together? And the vows we made? Sure, they weren't official or anything, but they were still real, right?"

Ryou wasn't one to pity anyone, but he didn't like seeing the sad look on Ichigo's face. Sure, she had hit several nerves numerous times on the course of that morning, but he can see that she was truly hurt by what had happened.

"Are you … going to give up on him?" He didn't know what brought him up to asking such a question, but he did. "I mean, are you going to accept the break-up or are you going to talk to him about it? You could still fix things, you know.

He said no more as he watched Ichigo stare up at the ceiling, contemplating with her thoughts. As for Ryou, he couldn't quite figure out the thoughts of his own. What he did know was that he was beginning to hate Aoyama more for what he did, but why exactly was he so upset? This situation wasn't related to him in any way. The only relation he had with it was that he was the one that was bragged to about it all morning.

Either way, it wasn't as though he was to have a say on it. It was simply something Ichigo had to deal with.

After not hearing much of an answer from Ichigo, he stepped over to his bedroom window and looked out past the glass. He couldn't quite figure out what to do next. Then, suddenly, he spotted the clouds and realized they were changing form and becoming dark shades of grey. That could only mean one thing and it didn't look so great.

"It's going to rain soon. Might even be a thunderstorm. I'm going to tell Keiichiro to close up the café for the rest of the day. You should probably just head home." He told Ichigo, as he walked towards the door.

She didn't say a word and only gave a nod, without even making a move to stand up. Deciding to give her a minute to get herself together, Ryou walked out the door and went down the staircase, to see that people were already exiting the café.

He spotted his brunet friend guiding customers outside the door. "Seems like you're already one step ahead of me, I guess. You saw the clouds?"

Keiichiro turned towards Ryou and nodded his head. "They just spoke about it on the news. It's nothing too terrible that should be taken seriously, but it's still a good idea for everyone to remain in their homes for their safety."

The blond replied with a nod. "Yeah, of course. Are you staying here?"

"Yes, I'll be cleaning up around here and in the kitchen." Suddenly, Keiichiro gave a smile. "You should probably get some rest. I know you wouldn't want to be out here for some time before the storm's over."

Ryou went silent for a few moments. His friend knew him much too well. He gave a slight smirk. "Shut up, Keiichiro." Receiving another smile from him, he turned to return up the stairs.

"Oh, Ryou?" Keiichiro called from behind, causing him to turn around again once more. "I haven't seen Ichigo walk out yet. Do you know where she is?" He asked, with concern.

That's right, Ryou remembered. He had to go get Ichigo. "She's upstairs. I'll get her to hurry home in a second," he replied, rushing up to his room. Though he pretended it wasn't out of concern, he simply wondered if she'd be alright at home. With a storm approaching and facing the tragedy of the break-up, she must have been getting stressed out.

When he went inside his room, he saw that Ichigo was still on his bed. He wondered if she was still thinking about things, or if his bed was just awfully comfortable. He admitted that it truly was. "You should probably get home before it gets too late." He paused, before continuing. "I'll even walk you if you want."

He was surprised when he saw her shake her head slowly. "I really don't think I can go home right now. Do you think maybe … I can stay here for just a while?" That question put him into more shock, though it took him some time to realize what it meant. She just needed time to clear her mind about things and probably just didn't want to be home alone. He kept noting to himself that it had nothing to do with him.

"Sure, you can stay."

**-End, Part II.**

Whoa, that was a long chapter! Probably the longest one I ever wrote in fanfiction history! Yay for me! claps for self I bet you're all getting giddy cause Ryou and Ichigo are going to be alone together in a storm. Ooooh! Well, they aren't really alone, considering Keiichiro's still downstairs doing his own thing. Not too much romance just yet, you may have noticed, but remember that this is supposed to be a 30-chapter story. If there's romance straight at the beginning, what is gonna be left for the later chapters? So have patience with that.

Again, my same rules apply. Ten reviews for this chapter, and I'll post the next one. Deal? Okay, good. 'Sides, I don't think I'll have much of a problem, since my first and previous chapter got so many reviews already. 3 Also, I'd like to note to you, Ryou does like Ichigo. It's pretty obvious in most cases, though maybe some of you got confused in this chapter. Sometimes, even if you like a person, you still probably can't stand them almost all of the time.

So you see, Ichigo gets on Ryou's nerves all the time, and most of the time, he just wants to kill her, but he still has feelings for her. Ichigo, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be quite there yet. 3

Cliff-hanging voice time! WHAT could possibly go on between the two love birds during the storm? WHO thinks that there'll be the ol' mushyworks in the next chapter? WHY would Ryou not want to be around during the storm? WHEN will Ichigo start getting out her feelings for Ryou? WHERE is Carmen Sandiego and why can't we find her? HOW was I able to have over 5,000 words all in one stupid chapter? FIND OUT during the next chapter! YAY!


	3. Jolt!

I'm gonna get shot aren't I? x3 I know it's been a very, very long time since I've updated and I don't have a good excuse for it either. I've had this chapter written down on paper for a long time and just never went around to writing it. Why? Erm, cause I'm lazy? Anyhoo, I was on reading different stories and I remembered I had stories of my own. XD

So then I felt really bad, seeing as how this story has gotten more than enough reviews that I asked for and is actually on the Favorites List of a lot of people. So, I realized that people really did like this story. So I couldn't just kill it. Not that I was planning to. I'm jus lazy. o.O So you're all lucky that I, Arisa, have a good heart and typed up this chapter cause I felt bad for not giving it to you earlier. 3

About this chapter? Erm, well, some things were "stolen". x3 Okay, not really "stolen", but whatever. Some ideas for this chapter came from Kokoro (That infamous psychotic TMM role-play thing!). Specifically a certain "fear" of Ryou that was Cherry's idea. x3 (Yeah, I know, Cherrio. You so saw it coming in this chapter. . ) Also, Ichigo's very … erm … "giddy" in this chapter. o.O She reminded my a lot of Kokoro!Ichigo. So if she says things that are stupid or idiotic, don't take it too seriously. I tend to write Ichi that way. ;

Funny. It was raining while I wrote this chapter. XD Heh. Enjoy!

**III. JOLT!**

_You can thank your lucky stars  
That everything I wish for will never come true_  
-'Sending Postcards from a Plane Crash' by Fall Out Boy

It was then that the rain started to drop, that sounds of droplets could be easily heard hitting against the windowpane of Ryou's room. As agreed, Ichigo stayed at the cafe, at least she would stay until the rain stopped and the storm passed.

"So, do you want to talk about that Aoyama guy some more?" was the first question Ryou asked to destroy the silence which had been occurring since the agreement. Ichigo didn't quite understand why he would ask such a question. By the tone of his voice she could easily tell that he didn't really actually want to talk about him. Maybe he was just trying to help her out. Maybe.

However, she really didn't want to talk about him either. Masaya really had done the unexpected that day and she didn't think she'd get anything out of it by just questioning it some more. She shook her head. "I don't really want to think about him for some time. Too upset about that right now."

She stared down at the floor, her fingers playing with the edge of the sheets on the bed. From the corner of her eye, she could see Ryou, arms crossed, against his bedroom door, lost in thought. She noticed he kept opening his mouth slightly as if to say something, but seemed to just end up shaking his head. He seemed to be struggling with what to say. Was he trying to cheer her up? Or maybe he'd just make fun of her. "Well, I guess we could—"

"Let's talk about you!" She suggested with a giggle. What made her so giddy all of a sudden? She crossed her legs on the bed, as she began swinging back and forth. "You're always this big ol' mystery. It's been possibly almost a whole year since we've met, but I don't know a thing about you." She was surprised by her own excited tone, considering what was going on, but she needed this. She wasn't going to turn all "emo" all of a sudden, just because some guy dumped her.

Then again, was Masaya really just _some guy_?

"Yes, you do," he said simply, disagreeing with her statement. "I already told you about my past, my parents, and my reasons for the Mew Project." Ignoring the fact that she was sitting on it, he jumped on his bed to lie down across it.

"Hey!" She complained, pushing his legs so that she would have enough space to continue sitting. "First of all, I wouldn't have even known about all of that if Keiichiro didn't tell me. In any other case, you would have _never_ told me about it," she said, crossing her arms. "And move over! I'm gonna fall off!"

He hesitated, but moved his legs slightly to give her some space. "Who said you could sit here anyway? It's my bed. And either way, I think that's enough information for you anyway. I don't see the point of you knowing anything else about me."

She pouted her lips and poked his leg. "Don't you have any likes and dislikes? What about any fears or something? Look, I know you're a meanie and all that, but …," she paused, when he chuckled at her "meanie" statement. "But I'm pretty sure you're not some heartless intergalactic weirdo." She shrugged, though the idea seemed to have had its evidence. "Look, I'm just saying, there's a lot we could talk about, you know. And in exchange, I could tell you some little secrets of my own, too."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Who said they were all secrets? I just don't feel like telling you," he admitted, closing his eyes as he rested his head on the pillow. Ichigo wondered if he was trying to fall asleep. She had never had someone fall asleep on her before, and was curious if he could with her bugging him. "And what's the use of hearing your secrets? Does it really look like I care about them either?"

Even though he denied it, she had a feeling he was curious to know. "Oh! I know! You could tell me about a girl you have a crush on!" She smiled, seeing a shade of red slightly form on his face. "Ha! So, there's a girl, isn't there? I knew it! What's her name? Does she know you like her? Does she like you too? Where's she from? Do I know her?"

Calmly, he took one of the two pillows from under his head and threw it in her direction, making a perfect hit. "There's no girl. And even if there was, what makes you think I'd tell _you_? Either way, I have no time for liking girls. I have more important things to take care of," he said, in an honest tone, but Ichigo wasn't convinced.

"No time for girls, eh?" She thought about this. "Oh, I see. So, you're gay?"

His eyes went wide on that. "Wha--? No! Where the heck do you get that from?" He grumbled, looking around the bed, probably for another pillow to throw at her. "Look, if you're just gonna keep yapping to me in your annoying screechy voice, you might as well just walk out now."

Ichigo ignored him, and kept on, smiling. "Are you sure you don't have even the teeniest crush on someone? I promise I won't say a thing to anyone if you tell me!" She was curious now. Seeing Ryou blush (something he never did) had to be some sign that there was someone he was interested in.

Ryou remained quiet for some time, leaving Ichigo to wonder if he was giving her the silent treatment, maybe so she'd go away. She was about to comment, when he opened his mouth to speak. "My favorite color's red. Favorite food is anything with noodles. And my favorite subject in school was always science. Happy?"

"Really?" Ichigo didn't even realize that Ryou had been successful in changing the subject. "Noodles, eh? You don't seem like the noodles type of guy," she commented with a giggle. "Well, I love strawberries!"

"Big surprise there," he said, sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He sat up so he could look right at her. "What's wrong with noodles?"

"I don't know. You seem more likely to like … fish or raw meat or something. Or maybe pasta!"

He looked at her in silence for a moment. "Noodles _is_ pasta, you idiot," he told her, half-expecting a slap in the face. Instead, she laughed, before giving him a smile, which made him grin at her.

She blinked. She was surprised to see something other than the signature smirk. However, she shrugged it off. "Okay, I have a question, and you have to answer it. _And_ you have to be completely honest about it. Okay?" She pointed a finger at him accusingly, knowing he would try to make an excuse to get out of answering.

She could tell he really didn't want to answer any of her questions, and expected for him to ignore her or throw another pillow or an even harder object this time, but was surprised to see him nod. "Alright, Ichigo, what do you want to know?"

"What's your type of girl?"

His eyes went wide. "Excuse me?" Ichigo figured he wouldn't have expected a question like that, but it was part of her plan. "You're so immature. What's with all the girl questions?"

She pouted yet again, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm just curious! I always wondered what girls you might've been interested in. I always figured you might've liked boring, serious, scientific girls or something." Trying to get him to admit to liking someone was going to be a "toughie", and she probably wouldn't succeed in doing so, much less trying to get him to say exactly who he liked.

"Serious scientific girls? Not really. Now, may I ask why you're oh-so-curious about my love life? Secretly in love with me or something, Momomiya?" He gave that smirk of his, before leaning forward to flick her nose.

"Ouchies!" She rubbed her nose, before slapping his hand lightly. "Eww! No way!" 

Ichigo twitched. Just thinking about being in love with Ryou almost made her want to gag. She really couldn't even find how it would be possibly for anyone to be in love with him. She really felt sorry for the poor innocent girl that would one day get married with him. Then again, that girl must be a total idiot, seeing as how she'd do something like that.

Her nose really didn't hurt, but she exaggerated the situation by covering it with her hands and sending a glare in his direction. "I just want to know! What is it? Blondes? Or brunettes?" She then giggled, winking at him. An odd act, considering Ichigo did not wink. Period. "Or maybe you like redheads?"

Ryou bit his lip, trying to keep from laughing. A winking Ichigo was truly a funny sight. "Um … I like quiet girls. Mostly blondes, I guess. As for girls I _don't_ like, I'd have to say spunky, little redheads that can't keep their nose in their own business."

Ichigo giggled, scratching the back of her neck. "Heh, I guess I try much too hard. You know you enjoy my spunkiness!" She stuck out her tongue at him, still giggling.

He raised an eyebrow and shook his head in disagreement. "Not really. I find it awfully annoying. You're the exact type of girl I'd never have any sort of interest in. It's quite the opposite, in fact, considering that you constantly make me want to rip my hair out, which isn't exactly a good thing, you know."

Before she could comment, rain fell down harder outside, as it could be easily heard from the beating on the roof. Lightning flashed in through the windows and thunder could be heard from far distances, which caused Ryou to shiver.

"Ryou?" She blinked, noticing his shaking and wondered what had been the cause of it. Leaning closer to him, she wanted to see what the matter was. "What's wro--?"

"AHH!" He shouted, as a large thunderbolt struck above them, sending a jolt through him. The screamed cause Ichigo to jump, which caused her to fall on Ryou, who, in shock, fell off the bed with a loud …

THUD!

Before Ichigo could blush from embarrassment, she blinked at Ryou for a moment, before she tried holding back a giggle. Before long, she let out a loud laugh. "You're … you're scared of thunderstorms?" She was now complete with a burst of giggles. "I sooo cannot believe it! I totally did _not_ see this coming!"

He glared up at her, though he had a blush spread across his face. He hadn't exactly see this coming either nor had he wanted it to. "Yeah, go ahead and laugh all you want. Just get off of me, will you?"

But Ichigo didn't move from where she was, still giggling in disbelief of her previous discovery. "So all this time, you've been scared of storms? Well, Mr. Tough-Guy Ryou, I just discovered your all-time big secret!" She giggled insanely, covering her mouth to try quieting down, though it didn't do much. She made a note to self that this would make such excellent blackmail material in the future.

Her giggles somehow just made his face turn even redder than before, and he didn't look too comfortable with the situation. Ichigo was going to make yet another comment, but was stopped when Ryou did the one thing he had done twice before to get her to stop doing something.

He kissed her.

"You really _are_ heavier than you look, so can you please get off now? You're pushing into my ribs."

Not complaining, she stood up and sat on the bed again, quietly. She had completely forgotten about their so-called "bet" and was again let her guard down. She made another note to self about making sure Ryou didn't kiss her anymore. After all, this was already the third time, and it was still morning. At this rate, he could be successful, and she would not live with that. No, no.

However, she thought about her new-found blackmail and giggled once again. "Wow, the o' so great Ryou is scared of thunderstorms."

"Shut up, you," he replied, standing up from the floor. He grunted. His "behind area" really hurt from the fall, and having had Ichigo on top of him really hadn't helped matters much. "You've learned enough about me today. Don't expect to get any other information about me for a very long time."

She tilted her head. "Why not?" She sighed, crossing her arms. "I still don't understand why you have to be so secretive all of the time. You should really talk to people more often, and let them get to know you. You'll have much more friends that way, you know."

He kept his back to her, not denying her words. "It really isn't that easy for me. You, on the other hand, have some sort of vibe where you attract people, so it's always real easy for you to get friends," he spoke, suddenly wanting to kick himself when he discovered what he said.

Ichigo blinked, remaining silent. Then, a slight blush appeared on her face. She hadn't expected hearing words like that ever from Ryou. It was extremely unlikely when he said such … erm, "nice" things about her. Still, the serious silence was bugging her and she knew she had to break it. "Wow, Ryou! Are you saying that you find me attractive?" She began giggling insanely, hearing herself.

Ryou turned to her, now covered in a dark shade of red. "What? Are you stupid or something? That's not what I meant at all!"

She was surprised about his strong reaction. She really had not expected him to get this upset. She stopped her giggling, but kept a tiny smile on her face. She had not noticed the color of Ryou's face. "Ooooh Ryou likes me! Hehehe!" He sent a glare in her direction. "Or not."

He gave a yawn, not having gotten enough sleep the night before and already tired of all of this Ichigo-nonsense. "Instead of sitting around remaining practically useless, why don't you … go away and do something to fascinate yourself, why don't you? Go … chase a mouse or something."

She gave a pout, sending a whine in his direction. "Go fascinate myself? Look, we're stuck together in this little old café, so you're just going to have to accept that you're stuck with me and I'm not going anywhere."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm stuck with you?" He walked over to her, quite surprised. "I told you to go home before it started raining! You had time to leave! But instead _you_ decided to stay here in the café! Don't go around saying that you never had a choice to begin with!"

"I did no such thing," she said, crossing her arms.

"Ichigo!"

"Hey! I was in a state of depression, okay?" She complained, in her own defense. "You can't expect a girl to just go home all alone when she has just been recently dumped by her long-time boyfriend. That's just cruel, you know!"

He rolled his eyes, annoyed by her attempt to use the "I'm just a poor innocent girl!" card on him. "You seem to be doing just fine now, aren't you? I mean, considering you're all giddy and full of fun," he stated, waving his hands in the air. "You must be over the whole Aoyama thing."

She stood up at the edge of the bed, attempting to make herself taller than he was. "I'm trying my best to not think about it, that's all. It doesn't mean I'm all cold-hearted and that I don't care. Most girls do this when they face depression. They try to remain as happy and hopeful as possible, when they don't want to remain at home stuffing their faces in cookie-dough ice cream, while watching classic love movies like _Gone With The Wind_."

"What about you, Ichigo?"

She blinked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you seem to be quite an expert at what is done when depressed. So, my question is: are you one of those girls that have sat in their rooms alone eating ice cream or whatever?"

Ichigo fell silent for a moment. "Well, that's really none of your business, now, is it? What I do outside of this café really doesn't have absolutely anything to do with you."

Ryou snickered. "Translation would be that you are indeed one of those girls. Wow, it's Emo-Ichigo."

She pouted. "Hey! I am _not_ emo! And I do not depress myself like that. How does not saying to you what I do in my own time say I depress myself. And do you even know what emo is?" She grew frustrated when Ryou ignored her. "And I am not depressed!" Nothing was worse than Ryou trying to make her believe he knew whatever there was to know about her. Ryou Shirogane did not have any understanding of Ichigo Momomiya. And that was that. 

"Oh, really?" He cleared his throat, putting on a higher-pitched voice for a moment. "'Hey! I was in a state of depression, okay?'" He reminded her, attempting to mimic her earlier comment.

Ichigo snickered, bursting into laughter, before jumping off the bed. "That sounds _nothing_ like me!"

He rolled his eyes, returning to his own "more comfortable" voice. "You didn't exactly deny that you weren't that type of girl. You just didn't want to say it, which says that you are without having to actually say in words that you are."

She tilted her head, not exactly catching all of those words. "Erm, are you attempting to use some bizarro scientific technique to try to confuse people or something?" She shook her head. "Because I didn't even say anything about myself being one of those girls!" Every moment only caused Ichigo to grow more frustrated with Ryou. She hated it when he used his big words and odd-phrasing to try and confuse her. Just because she wasn't some big-time rocket scientist did not mean he could try to make her look stupid.

He sighed. "It's called reading between the lines. It's actually kind of obvious," he said, before giving a smirk. "But then again, you don't quite have the right brain capacity to understand these types of things, do you?"

She gasped, in shock, even though it shouldn't have been much of a surprise. With her mouth wide open, she argued, "Why do you always come to the conclusion that I'm dumb? For some reason, you seem to have some miscalculated imagery of me not being intelligent enough. I may not be a scientist dude like you, but I am not an idiot!"

Ryou was impressed, giving a smirk. "Wow, that's a lot of big words you've used there, Ichi."

She growled, angry. "Ugh! I so cannot believe you! Just because you have this big four-digit IQ, you seem to believe that that gives you the power to just go ahead and make fun of—," she paused, rewinding the words he just said. Did she hear him correctly? "Whoa, did you just call me Ichi?"

He shrugged, acting dumb. "Maybe not, maybe so. But what would be the difference whether I did or not?"

Ichigo rolled her eyes again, but this time she smiled. "You're … a really strange and complicated guy, you know that, Ryou?"

He shrugged yet again. "That's nothing new." He pointed out of the window. "It stopped raining. Which means you can go home now. So, leave and let me get some sleep." He pushed her aside so he could walk over to his bed to lay down.

She chuckled. She was not letting him off the hook yet. She smiled, as an idea formed in her mind. Ryou always got away with picking on Ichigo and ignoring her attempts at a comeback. He may have won the battle, but he would definitely not win the war. Or … something in that text. "Actually … since I'm not working today, I have some free time on my hands. We can bond today!"

He twitched, looking at her strangely. Had he heard her correctly? "I'm sorry, did you just say 'bonding'? We don't bond, Ichigo. It makes absolutely no sense."

"Well, we can change that, can't we?" She gasped, putting her hands together in excitement. "That's it! Today will be a day for us to bond. We can call it … 'Ryou and Ichi's Day of Fun!'!

Ryou froze in place, his eyes growing wide. "Oh, heavens, no."

**-End, Part III.**

Any Kokoro readers should have noticed another reference, such as when Ichigo's thinking about Ryou's "future wife" who seems to be a total idiot. Gee, who does that remind you of? XD I actually intended for this chapter to be a lot longer than it really is, but somehow that didn't happen. I guess it works the way it is, but I want longer chapters. .

I guess you can say the good thing about this chapter was the fact that Ryou and Ichigo had the change to actually _talk_, which let's face it, they don't really do that. Hopefully, they'll do a lot more of this chit-chat talking in later chapters.

You also may notice that time seems to be going pretty slow, considering it's still morning. Remember that I'm attempting to make 30 chapters out of one full day, so time will be going slow. Each chapter will probably just be one whole scene, and so on. I'll probably even it all out. Ten chapters will be morning, another ten will be the afternoon, and the last ten will be nighttime. All packed with thirty kisses! Wh00t wh00t! XD

Oh! Oh! Time for the voice! YAY! THE VOICE! WHY the heck is Ichigo GIGGLING so much? WHO has kidnapped the real Ichigo and morphed her into an energizer kitty? WHY is Ichigo so determined for her and Ryou to bond? WILL Ryou be able to survive the so-called "day of fun"? WHAT the heck is this "Day of Fun" all about? And darn it, WHERE the heck is Carmen Sandiego? HOW come I always bring up that woman's name at the end of every chapter? FIND OUT next in the next chapter of Thirty Kisses, which will (not) be coming very soon! D


	4. Our Distance and That Person

See, SEE? As soon as I posted that last chapter, I automatically began typing the next one. So, see! I'm doing good so far, aren't I? Yet another chapter for all of you to enjoy! Bwahaha! So now it's four chapters down, and … twenty-six more to go? Either way, at least I'm not completely dead and not moving at all. I'm still alive and writing, just really lazy. And I'm already completely done with chapter five, so BOOYAH to all of you!

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, though I probably had more fun writing the last one. Or maybe this one? Or the last one? Heck, I dunno. They're all fun to write. But then why do I take me time writing them, you ask? It's a deadly sin: sloth. That's right. Anyhoo, this is a Ryou chapter. There's a lot of narration in this one, because it focuses a lot on Ryou's feelings on Ichigo and how he felt about her being with Masaya. There'll probably be more chapters like this one.

Thank you for the reviews I realized that reviews came slower in this chapter than the rest. That's probably cause I've proven to you that whether I get enough reviews or not, that _really_ does not guarantee that I'll update soon enough. I'm really sorry about that. But really, the reviews do encourage me. It's what convinced me to get off my lazy butt, so review away! x3 Pleeeeeeeeeease! REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!

**IV. OUR DISTANCE AND THAT PERSON**

_I was dreaming of the past,  
And my heart was beating fast.  
I began to lose control,  
I'm just a jealous guy._  
-'Jealous Guy' by John Lennon

"You're kidding about that day of fun thing, right?"

"Why would I be kidding?"

"Because it's a stupid idea."

"It's not a stupid idea! _You're_ stupid!"

"It's most definitely a stupid idea. You and me, Ichigo … let's face it. We're _not_ friends, okay? I'm your boss, you're my employee, and that's it. So that's it. So there's no way I'm going to spend an entire day with you—and don't call me stupid."

Something was definitely wrong with Ichigo. At least with her mind—though really, there was _always_ something wrong with her mind. He couldn't understand why she was there or even where she had come up with this utterly random idea of them having some sort of "day of fun". He began to think twice about throwing objects at her anymore. It wasn't doing much good.

"Ryou, we've known each other for some time now and we're not even considered friends? Well, that's a tad harsh, don't you think? I admit, I can't stand you at all and I even, at times, get the urge to just grab your big head and bang it against the wall, but I guess I still sort of considered you as a friend."

Friend, huh? "I don't have friends and I prefer to keep it that way. The only person I'd consider a friend of mine would be Keiichiro, who I refer to more as my business partner, so technically, you can consider me to be anything you want, but just accept the facts. We are not friends."

He became surprised when Ichigo's face actually looked a bit hurt, though he couldn't get why, seeing as how it didn't really seem to matter to either of them whether they were friends or not. At least he had always just figured it never mattered to her.

She put her hands on her hips, and stood next to the bed where he sat. "Well, if I'm not your friend, then how do you see me?" He was surprised by her question. "What am I to you?"

He couldn't answer her. Replying to that question would change everything. What she was to him was so much more than just friends. It was more than just being his employee.

He loved her.

Well, he kept the fact to himself, seeing as how it would do no good in the outside world. He didn't even believe it himself, and figured it was just a "crush", a type of liking that only occurred in early adolescence, but he figured it was just making up for lost time. Who really knew?

He contemplated on letting out a rude reply to cover up anything he didn't want her to know. But seeing as how she already looked hurt by his early words, so he didn't want to take anymore risks of doing so again. And right now, with her hands on her hips, glaring down at him, she looked liked she would throw a lamp at his head at any moment. He wouldn't want to risk facing any serious injuries, either.

He resulted with just not giving an answer to the question at all. "Are we going to do this dumb day of fun thing or not?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

That brought a smile to her face. "You mean you're actually gonna go through with it? What happened to the whole "we're not friends" deal?" She asked, scratching the side of her face, in confusion.

He shrugged, not really explaining his reasons much. "Well, we're not friends, but … I have nothing better to do, so I'll just have to accept the invitation." He knew she didn't believe that—it was a stupid reply—but he still wouldn't admit to actually "wanting" to spend the day with her. If he were to do that, he could have just run out into the storm earlier and gotten himself struck by lightning. It would have been a much easier thing to do, even considering his fear.

He wasn't _afraid_ to tell her how he felt. He was just … well … okay, so maybe he was _a little _afraid, but that really wasn't the big problem. How could he tell her anything with the way things were between them? They were too distant. Even as she stood right there in front of him, he couldn't reach her.

He just couldn't.

Ryou stopped thinking, realizing he was still in the middle of a conversation with Ichigo. "Besides, I might as well, since I still have to kiss you twenty-seven more times," he said, adding a smirk to that.

He noticed a slight red color form on her face when he said that. He wondered about it, but was disrupted by a sudden fake gagging sound. "Eww, yuck. Whatever," she said, with a shrug and an exaggerated shiver. "But now that you have accepted my offer, you're going to have to do whatever I suggest for us to do."

He frowned at that. He didn't know what to expect with her. He had to admit, he was a tad bit scared of what ideas she could possibly come up with. "As long as it has nothing to do with sugar-high, karaoke, or running through the streets naked, I think I can manage."

She giggled. "Well, we're just gonna have to see."

Now he was scared.

She took her hands off of her hips and held out one of her hands for him to take. He simply raised an eyebrow at that. "I'm not four. I do not need you to guide me anywhere," he commented, standing up. She smiled at that, before he continued. "Unless of course, you're just dying to take a hold of my hand, because if you don't get the chance to do so today, you'll probably shoot yourself," he said, ending his statement with a smirk.

She frowned, taking her hand back. "You're such a jerk. I was just going to drag you out, because I knew that if I didn't, you'd take your precious time to do it."

He said nothing except stare at her in silence. He took a hold of her chin and judging by her face expression, he knew she was expecting a kiss from him. But she didn't move. He knew she knew it was coming, but was surprised to see she wasn't doing much to stop it. He moved his face closer to hers stopping just as she closed her eyes.

He smirked, letting go of her chin. "Now we can go."

She opened her eyes, in both confusion and surprise. "Wait, what … ?"

Ryou couldn't stop smirking. The look on her face was simply priceless. "So you were dying for a kiss, weren't you? Wow, Ichigo, somehow you seem to want me real badly today."

She glared at him. "You … are such a JERK!" She shouted, punching his left upper arm as hard as she could, though it didn't do much to harm him. "You know what? I don't want to have any fun with you on _any_ day of the week! Ugh! I can't stand you! One minute, you act all innocent and "Hi, I'm Ryou! I may seem mean, but I'm not really a bad guy!" and then the next minute, you contradict everything you say and everything I thought of you before! You big, ugly meanie man! I'm leaving!"

Now pleased with making her upset, he gave a slight laugh and grabbed her arm softly to prevent her from walking away. "I was only joking, Ichigo. I'm sorry," he said, before realizing that he had actually given her and apology—a not so common action from him—but he didn't care too much. "You can take me to do your thing and I promise I'll leave you alone, alright?"

She kept glaring at him, thinking for a moment, but then sighed. "You know, sometimes I really do just want to grab your arm and shove it in a blender."

He didn't comment on than; he just laughed—another action that he, himself was even shocked about. "Even you can be full of surprise sometimes. Come on, let's go have your little so-called "day of fun"."

She snickered. "Yeah, we better," she said, but still smiled.

He had to admit, he loved her smile. He especially loved it when he was the one who was the cause of it, though that wasn't quite as common as he had wanted. He admitted that he teased her a lot just to see her get upset, but he felt like he didn't have much of a choice. It wasn't him who had the role of the boy that could make her smile every day. That was Aoyama. Even though he wasn't with her anymore, it's not as though Ryou had a chance now.

He could say they had a silent rivalry, but really, it's not as though it was a close competition. Aoyama had won since the beginning. Ryou never had a chance, not even now. Maybe that's why he just chose to pretend his feelings weren't such a big deal and that they would just go away later. Maybe that's why he chose to keep it a secret from everyone, including Ichigo. What would she even do if he said anything? Knowing her, she'd probably start a rant and yell at him, and would probably even start throwing objects halfway through.

Oh well.

Ichigo hopped out of the room, and he followed. He couldn't exactly understand why she was so giddy and so … bouncy. She seemed to be the energizer bunny in kitten form. Scary. "What exactly do you have in mind anyway?"

"Huh?" She questioned, looking as though she wasn't paying much attention, as she went down the stairs.

He sighed. There weren't times when she ever actually listened to what he was saying, were there? "I mean, what do you have planned for us to do that's, as you say, fun?"

"Oh! Well, I figured we could start off by getting on a little sugar-high. Afterwards, we'd head to the karaoke bar to sing a few show tunes and before the day is gone, we can strip down, join the streaker's club, and explore the streets of Tokyo!"

He cringed. "Ichigo … "

She giggled. "Kidding! First, I'd figure we can have some breakfast, cause let's face it. I'm starving! I didn't eat anything this morning, just so I'd get to work on time. Don't know where we can get something to eat though."

He stopped in his tracks, as they almost reached the bottom of the staircase. She was kidding, right? "You're kidding, right?" Well, he had to make sure.

She tilted her head, confused. "I thought I told you I was kidding already. I'm not really going to have us run around Tokyo naked. Only those of the insane kind do that. Anyway, about that breakfast …"

"Ichigo, this is a café. You can have breakfast here." Funny how she often tried to prove him wrong when he told her she was an idiot, and then moments later, she'd just prove him right yet again.

She blinked. "You mean you do more than just sweets and pastries here?"

As he was just about to go down the last step of the staircase, he tripped, landing face-first on the ground. That common statement had been proven true: stupidity hurts.

Ichigo didn't even bother to him up and just stared, trying to keep this memory fresh in her mind. He brought himself back to his feet, wiping his white pants clean. He glared at the redhead, who tried to keep her giggles silent. "Right. Go ahead and laugh it all you want. You're the idiot. You've worked here for almost a year, and you don't even what you're serving."

She ignored him, still attempting to laugh silently. "A-are you okay? That was … a pretty bad fall," she managed to say between her chuckles.

He glared at her, before he stepped into the kitchen with her following behind. "I'm sure you would remember serving things like pancakes to the customers. Geesh, Ichigo, you really are slow, aren't you?" He then remembered Keiichiro was supposed to be around there, but as he looked around, he realized his friend wasn't around. He must have gone out, he thought. "What do you want? We have pancakes, bacon, eggs?" He looked through the cupboards. "Cheerios?" He offered, showing the cereal box.

She leaned against the kitchen counter, pointing at the cereal. "I really didn't expect you to have Cheerios though. You seem more like the type to eat something like Captain Crunch or something."

"Why do you always think these things of me? You seem to already have in your mind what type of food and cereal I like. Is this why you slack off of work most of the time? To try to figure what type of guy I'd be?" He rolled his eyes, as he took two bowls from the cupboard and placed one in front of her. "You shouldn't just come up with ideas just by looking at me."

"So what are you are saying? I shouldn't 'judge a book by its cover'?" She said, as she helped him serve breakfast by taking the milk out of the refrigerator. "Well, I can't exactly ask you these questions myself, considering you like to keep the Ryou facts all to yourself. So I just come up with what I think would work with you."

He tilted the cereal box in the bowls, as he chuckled. "I find it interesting how you're so determined to learn so much about me. So much, in fact, that you're even willing to make up the facts yourself. What's with this curiosity about me anyway? Are you sure you're not in love with me?" He smirked, watching her pour the milk.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to solve this bundle of mystery you keep chucking at me. And why do you keep asking if I'm in love with you or something? Are you sure you're not in love with _me_, considering _you're_ the one with the determination to try to get me to say I'm some giddy fangirl of yours or something?"

Ryou answered the truth of that question to himself in his head. But he didn't say so aloud. "Told you before, Ichigo. You're not my type. You're way too screechy for my taste."

She shrugged. "If you say so. Spoon," she said, handing one out to him and grabbing one for herself.

He took the spoon, and began to munch on his breakfast. He swallowed the first bite down, before looking back up at her. He had a question on his mind, but hesitated to ask. He wasn't exactly sure if she'd actually even answer him, or even if she did, whether she would answer honestly. "Ichigo, why exactly do you want us to … you know, bond?"

She chewed on her cereal, replying with her mouth full. "Why exactly do you want to kiss me thirty times today?" He froze, listening to her. She got him there.

He really didn't have an answer for her. He didn't really even have an answer for himself. Well, technically he did, but he pretended it had nothing to do with their "bet". "To prove I can," he answered, though he realized after he said it that he was a stupid one. Was that even a reason?

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, but kept eating. "Well then, I guess my answer is 'to prove _we_ can'."

He frowned. "You can't just answer my question using the same answer I gave."

"I can't? Why, is there a rule or law that says so? Because if so, please let me know about it."

He was about to comment, but stopped. She was getting him back. After all his—successful—attempts at making a point, which made her look stupid, she was trying to do the same to him. Of course, he wouldn't let her leave it at that. Ryou Shirogane was never to be proven wrong. At least not by Ichigo Momomiya. "Ichigo, you're such a slob."

"Huh?" She looked up at him, confused.

He sighed, wiping the side of her mouth with his thumb. "Can't you eat properly at least? You got milk on your face," he said, with another sigh. He saw she didn't move and simply blinked at him. He didn't move his hand from her cheek and stared down at her.

He figured he could pull the same stunt as he had done earlier and pull away, as soon as she expected him to do something. But looking at her then, he remembered the realization of his feelings.

How he loved her.

Right then, he didn't feel up to teasing her or saying something rude. He especially did not want to pull away. Bringing up his other hand to her other cheek, he pulled her closer and kissed her. But unlike the last times, he did not pull away so quickly. He was hoping that instead of having to tell her the truth himself, he could reveal to her how he felt like this. Only he knew she wouldn't see it that way. To her, it was all just a bet.

She hadn't moved and stayed still in silence. He had expected her to push him away, but was secretly glad that she didn't. However, something _was_ strange. Was she kissing him back?

He pulled away from her, staring in confusion. He could tell that from her point of view, she also seemed to be confused. Not understanding what had happened, he pretended she hadn't done what he had thought, and cleared his throat. "Well, um … looks like I got you again, Ichigo. You really are losing."

She blinked, taking a moment to get back into reality. "Oh! Right! Um … yeah, darn it all!" She said, looking away. He figured she wasn't quite sure what had just occurred either, judging by the look on her face. "So, um … I'm going to, uh … " she trailed off, trying to catch her own words. "To wash up! I'm gonna wash up, and you can, um …"

"I'll clean up here," he said, finishing her sentence.

She nodded. "Yeah! You could do that!" She said, trying to smile. Relieved to exit the awkwardness in the kitchen, she walked out, leaving Ryou in his thoughts.

He knew this wasn't really just a bet anymore. He was lost with his own feelings, unsure of exactly how he was to deal with them. Maybe he was hoping she'd realize how he felt instead of him having to build up the courage to say anything. Then again, he wasn't exactly sure whether or not he wanted her to know the truth. Whatever he decided, he had to face the facts that she didn't feel the same. Even if Masaya had broken up with her, Ichigo's feelings for him were most definitely still there, and they would probably get back together pretty soon anyhow.

Then he remembered the kiss. Did Ichigo really kiss him back? Or was it just his imagination? She hadn't pulled away, but that didn't have to mean she had wanted to kiss him, either. She was probably just confused about the whole thing. It didn't mean anything at all. Not to her.

He cleaned both bowls before putting them back into the cupboard. He kept reminding himself that the whole thing was just a bet. It was just a bet, and that was it.

Ryou heard the kitchen door open, causing him to turn around. Ichigo walked in, giving a half-smile. "Well, if you're ready, I guess we can go out now and have our little "day of fun"! Hope you haven't forgotten about it, cause I'm not going to let you get away from it so easily."

He was surprised she had returned back to normal so easily—or at least back to her "giddy" form. He was relieved, actually, because this made it easier for him to not feel so awkward about what had happened. He sighed. "I guess I'm stuck in this until it's over, eh? Too bad. And I was hoping it had slipped your mind."

"Hey, we made a deal!" She announced, grabbing his arm as she began dragging him out the door. "Now, let's go! It may still be morning, but with your pace, the sun will be gone by the time we get out of here!"

He wasn't sure whether the distance between them had shortened or had just grown longer.

**-End, Part IV. **

I have to say that my favorite part of this chapter was the little cereal scene. It's not highlighted so much, but if you really read it, you find it cute how they worked together to serve breakfast for each other. It just proves that just because they argue a lot, that doesn't mean they can't work together. So there! xP

Now, note that Ichigo still doesn't have feelings for Ryou. She's just … "confused", as Ryou points out. x3 However, we _have_ established that Ryou loves Ichigo, so there.

Cliffhanger time! WHAT is going on in Ichigo's head? WHO thinks it's weird that Keiichiro just vanished? WAS Ryou really imagining it or did Ichigo really kiss him back? WILL Ryou ever confess to Ichigo how he feels? WHY can't I get my chapters to get longer than the one before anymore? HOW did I manage to update this chapter on time? WHERE is Carmen Sandiego and could Keiichiro be where she is? FIND OUT in the (hopefully) upcoming fifth chapter of the three-oh smooches!


	5. Hey, You Know

Okay, before I get yelled at, I have an excuse for not posting this up sooner. My computer screen died, so I had no access to my computer where this chapter was. shot Erm, anyhow, this chapter is another short one, mostly cause I only had one thing in mind for this chapter, and I was relieved that I was at least able to use that simple idea and write it in four thousand words.

In this chapter, Ryou and Ichigo are supposed to make the bet "official" and decide the stakes. It also has Ichigo really exploring her thoughts about Ryou and the whole "kissing" deal. I already know how the whole story turns out and the general things that happen in certain chapters, but if you have any small ideas that you'd like me to use, then let me know, and I'll consider it.

This really isn't one of those "ZOMG!" big chapters, because those are still yet to come, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. And please review and let me know what you think. Thank you****

V. "HEY, YOU KNOW."

_Time, you've got me running  
News broke today so we're not talking  
I think it's best we do a little bit of stopping  
I want a house on a beach and you in my dreams  
I need water, yeah, and a love, love, love, love_  
-'Time Running' by Tegan & Sara

Ichigo replayed the recent events back in her head. She had to make sure what she thought had happened actually _had_ happened. According to her memory, Ryou had kissed her. Yeah, okay, no need to be surprise there, considering the fact that he _had_ made a sort-of bet with her about being able to kiss her thirty times that day. She still didn't know the deal with that, but that really hadn't been the point; not anymore, at least.

Now, also according to her memory, when Ryou had kissed her, she had in some sort of way, for some sort of reason, kissed him back, which Ichigo knew was a big no-no, because although Ryou kissing her wasn't a big deal anymore, _she_ was _not_ allowed to kiss him back. Not only was it not allowed, but she hadn't even wanted to. So why did she?

Again, Ichigo did _not_ see Ryou like that. He was her jerk of a boss that treated her like she was nothing, and although he was gorgeous in hers and everyone else's eyes, he was still—that was it! She realized it was the only one possible explanation for this whole mess.

Ichigo didn't like Ryou, but she did think he was a good-looking guy. So, if a good-looking guy like him were to kiss her, why _wouldn't_ she kiss him back? Who cared whether he was a jerk or not; he was still gorgeous!

Then, Ichigo shook her head to this. That was wrong! She was loyal to Masaya. It didn't matter whether he had broken up with her or not. She would call him up later to figure out what went wrong and fix things with him. In the meantime, there would be absolutely no mushyworking with Ryou!

"Are you okay?"

Ichigo snapped back to reality and looked to her right to see Ryou staring at her oddly. She cleared her throat, nodding her head, nervously. "Y-yeah! Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?"

He turned his head to stare straight ahead, as they continued to walk. "Well, you're shaking your head and making hand gestures to yourself, I thought maybe you were off talking to the voice in your head."

Whoa, that's embarrassing. "N-no, of course not! I was just thinking, that's all," she replied. Talking to a voice in her head? Now, why would she ever be doing that? And no, of course that was not what she was doing now.

"Do you usually have these dramatic conversations with yourself?" He asked, looking as if he was trying to hold back a laugh. Ugh, now he was laughing at her. This was _not _cool.

"Hey! I was not having a conversation with myself! I was just thinking, okay?" She answered, frustrated. She crossed her arms and turned away from him, deciding then that she would not speak to him until she felt up to it again. It's not like it was required.

"Well, well, you're not being very 'fun' now, are you?" He said, with his infamous smirk.

Now he was teasing her? She cringed, knowing that he was probably actually having the time of his life getting her to feel frustrated. She then frowned, realizing that their "day of fun" really wouldn't work. In order for it to be fun, they would both need to be having fun. But as it turns out, there wasn't really anything that they could do which they'd both consider fun. Even if one of them was enjoying themselves, the other most likely wasn't.

Such as now.

And that's when she noticed it. She _was_ having a conversation with herself in her head. She so hated when Ryou was right. Of course, there was never actually a time where she would admit this to him. But this wasn't the first time he had proved her wrong.

"Ichigo."

Nope. She was not talking to him anymore. Ryou was right about them not being friends. They never ever got along, and neither have they ever agreed on a single thing. The only times that had happened was during times they fought against the aliens, and now that those times were gone, they would just have to spend the rest of their time arguing.

"Ichigo … "

Why was he still calling her name? Hadn't he gotten the point? She realized she really was a little sad about the fact that they couldn't be friends. Maybe she was just tired of all the name-calling and teasing. She didn't like Ryou, but she didn't hate him either.

Ichigo blinked, focusing on what was in front of her. Was that a tree…?

"Ichigo!"

Before Ichigo could react, she felt her herself crash into the small tree in front of her, causing her to fall backwards onto the concrete. "Ooof!" She closed her eyes, attempting to block out the sun's rays as she felt a small bump form on the back of her head.

Ryou leaned over her and sighed. "See what happens when you get distracted talking to yourself?"

She remembered vowing not to talk to him anymore, but decided she had gotten what she deserved for it. "What, Mother Nature gets upset and throws random trees in front of me to knock me over?" She knew better than to feel embarrassed, although she was. But there really wasn't a need to considering she had fallen over plenty of times in front of Ryou before.

Instead of commenting back, he grinned and held out a hand to help her up. "Hurry up and get off the sidewalk before someone comes along and sees you. I'm sure they wouldn't care about you, but a lot of people know me, and you're quite embarrassing to have tagging along."

She rolled her eyes. He was worried about her embarrassing him. But at least he was willing to help her up. That was a kind enough gesture. She took his hand, and he pulled her off the ground. "Oww, my butt hurts."

He stifled a laugh. "You really don't need to tell me these things," he said, and continued to walk forward as soon as he saw that she was good and up on her feet. "I thought you weren't talking to me."

Either he was good at reading minds or she had been quite obvious. "I never said that," she replied, wiping dirt from her skirt and she followed him.

"Well, I sort of figured that was the case when you decided not to listen as I was trying to warn you from coming face to face with Mr. Tree back there."

She giggled. "Mr. Tree?"

He sighed. "Whatever," he replied, putting his hands in his pocket. "So what's the deal, anyway? You got mad cause I said you were talking to yourself in your head? No point in getting upset over the truth."

Was that the real reason? She thought that's what it was at the time, but maybe she was upset for other reasons. Maybe it was the kiss; or all of the kisses? Or maybe he really was just annoying? Or maybe she was just looking for a reason to be upset? "No, it's not—hey! What did I say about that? I do not talk to myself in my head!"

"Right, because the reason you crashed into the tree was because you _wanted_ to," he continued to speak, but Ichigo paid no attention to his words.

She figured she was just upset at him for too many reasons, and that there was no purpose in trying to sum it up into one simple reason for wanting to ignore him. After all, she was doing it again right now. She then wondered if it was okay to do so, considering the last time she attempted it, she crashed into a tree in public.

"You need to stop!" She shouted, surprised at her sudden outburst. She hadn't meant to shout that out, and wondered if it was even her doing the shouting. Maybe someone was taking over her body and was sending a secret message of world domination through it? That was truly doubtful.

Ryou was surprised too. He stopped walking, blinking, having never seen Ichigo shout at him like that. It's not as though she hadn't shouted at him at all before, but it just seemed to come out so suddenly and out of surprise. "Is this about what I said about you talking to yourself? Because if it is—"

"No, it's not that, it's just …" How was she supposed to know what it was about? She hadn't even meant to shout that out. "You can't … you can't keep kissing me!"

Ryou's eyes widened at the demand. He had expected hearing that from her, but he was surprised at how serious she seemed about it. He didn't know exactly how to respond to that, making it the second time he went speechless that day. 

Ichigo blinked. Had she just said that? "I mean, you … there's not any reason to it. Like you said before, you just do it to prove you can. I mean, why would you even want to kiss me?"

He didn't answer to that, and just turned away to avoid looking at her and to think about what she had said. "You're right. There's no real reason behind it. Fine, if you don't want me to, then I won't."

That was it? Out of all the times to convince Ryou something, this was the time she did? She thought about this. She had just convinced Ryou not to attempt to kiss her anymore. But did she want that? She knew she didn't have feelings for him, but she_ was_ attracted to him. She was indeed surprised when he announced that was going to kiss her thirty times—all in one day, in fact—but she wasn't _upset_. After all, what girl would be possibly upset about one of Tokyo's most gorgeous guys wanting to kiss her? Not Ichigo.

"Hey, you know," she started, grabbing his attention. "I guess if we turn this into an official bet, then there'll be a real reason?" Sure, she loved Masaya, but why miss out on a chance like this?

Ryou's face expression easily showed his reaction to this. "Whoa, wait, you want to turn this into an official bet?"

"If you manage to kiss me thirty times a day, then you can cut off one month's pay from my paycheck."

"Alright, and if I don't manage, then you'll—"

"You pay me 2500 yen an hour."

"What!" Ryou exclaimed, as his eyes widened. "2500 yen? Now that's exaggerating it a little bit, don't you think? That's even more than double what I pay you now."

"Look, it's either 2500 yen or the bet is off." Ichigo figured this was a good opportunity to raise her pay a bit. First of all, she really did deserve it, considering she really was the only one who actually did any work at the café. And second, there was a lot she really wanted to buy, but still couldn't purchase, because even with her work's pay, she still wasn't getting enough.

He sighed. Giving in, he nodded his head. "Alright, but you know that the other girls are going to be really upset when they find out. That is, if you win." He then took a moment to rethink the stakes. "Now, hold on, what do I get out of this?"

She blinked. "I already told you. You won't have to pay me for a month."

"You really think I care whether I have to pay you or not? I'm not low on money or anything, and even if I was, I wouldn't have a problem getting back on track. You, on the other hand, would love to have your pay more than doubled, but I don't really have a benefit in doing this, do I?"

She guessed he really did sort of have a point there. "Um, you get to kiss me thirty times?"

"Ichigo."

"What? I don't know what you want. You can tease me, bug me, and throw stuff at me; all for a whole month?" She thought about it more. Basically, this was a time to ask herself: What could she give to the man who had everything? Really, what would Ryou want, and from her, no less. "I don't know. I'll … buy you a pony?"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, if you win, you get your pay doubled. If I win, you get your work doubled," he stated, continuing. "Along with all those things you just told me," he paused for a moment. "Minus the pony."

She gasped. "Whoa! You don't care about losing your money, but you care about whether you can work me to death or not? That's just cruel, you big meanie!" She complained, crossing her arms. "Look, I'll let you do all that stuff I said, but no working me to death. And I'll throw in the pony!"

"I don't want a pony."

"Well, you're gonna get one!"

He groaned. "Fine! This is the final deal! If you win, I pay you double for two months. If I win, you don't get paid for two months, but you still have to work as you do now. So, it's double or nothing. Deal?"

"Two months? I can't deal for two months!" She started to complain, but stopped when she received a glare from Ryou. "Alright, fine, two months without pay. Oh, and the winner gets bragging rights!"

He crossed his arms. "Ichigo, what are you? Four?"

"Hey!" She whined, pouting. "If I win, I want to be able to make sure you know remember it, since you always like to shove things in my face all the time. It's only fair." She really thought so. He always got to pick on her about everything, and she never had the chance to get him back for it, because even if she had, he'd only get her back even worse, so what was the real point? At least this way, she can pick on him, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

He groaned, rolling his eyes again. "Fine, Ichigo, the winner gets bragging rights. You know, you really can be too immature at times."

She crossed her arms. "Hmph, look who's talking. You pick on me all the time like you're in still in Kindergarten. I'm surprised you have yet to accuse me of carrying around cooties."

"You do have cooties."

She turned to him, raising an eyebrow. Seeing a smirk on his face, she gave a chuckle. "There you go again with your surprises. Anyway, the bet's an official deal, and we can officially start right now. You have to kiss me thirty times, and I have to make sure you don't get past twenty-nine."

"Whoa, whoa, wait," he said, holding up his hands. "You mean, twenty-six times. I've already kissed you four times, so that's already counted."

She shook her head. "Nuh-uh. We made the bet official right now, so any kisses before then do not count. So you have to start from the very beginning, which means you have to kiss me thirty more times in order too—"

Because it seems to have turned into a routine now, Ichigo was cute off by a kiss. She didn't bother to pull back, but she made sure that she didn't exactly kiss him back, making sure that the action would not raise questions that she couldn't answer. Still, she was surprised at how long the kiss lasted. Was that … a minute now? Felt more like five. Wait … _was_ it five minutes? She made sure that next time she would have a timer keeping track next time.

Ryou pulled back, with a serious look on his face. "There, that's the fifth kiss. If you don't think so, then considering its length, you can count it as five different kisses. Either way you want to believe it, I only have to kiss you twenty-five more times, understood?"

She blinked, and just stared at him in silence. How long _had_ he kissed her? Either way, that was _definitely_ the longest kiss she's ever had. She was just lucky he hadn't asked why she didn't even disrupt it during those—two, three, four, five!—minutes. How was she even able to breathe? Maybe she was just imagining things and it really hadn't lasted _that_ long. Maybe with the way he kissed her, he had just made it seem that way.

"U-um, right! Yeah, twenty-five kisses left! Got it!" She said, noticing that he wasn't even in front of her anymore and was already walking ahead. She quickly ran, making sure to keep up with him.

It was then, Ichigo began to wonder. Why did she decide to go with the bet? She admitted, Ryou was _not_ a bad kisser, and having him kiss her thirty times would _not_ be bad, but was it really worth it? Was it wrong when there wasn't even any feelings involved? And what of Masaya? If they did manage to get back together, would he be okay with the fact that her employer kissed her thirty times and she wasn't bothered at all by it?

Ichigo knew she was over-thinking this. After all, it was a good plan. She'd have Ryou kiss her up to around twenty-nine times and then she'd just have to make sure he doesn't kiss her that one last time. Then, she'd have the benefit of getting her paycheck doubled, and she would have been kissed by a really—although mean—gorgeous guy. How many girls would love to be her right now?

There really was nothing to complain about. She wasn't even with Masaya now, so it wouldn't mean she wasn't being loyal. After all, she was the one that was dumped. And _wanting_ to be kissed by Ryou—was it really such a bad thing?

She sighed. "I've overthunk," she whispered to herself, trying to take the thoughts out of her head.

Ryou, who was only a short distance in front of her now, turned to look at her. "You say something?"

"Huh?" She looked up at him. "Oh, no, nothing," she paused, before speaking up again. "Hey, do we have a destination?" She asked, although before he could answer, she realized that she was the one who had wanted her and Ryou to go out, so it was her call. "How about the beach?"

He raised an eyebrow. "The beach?"

She nodded. "Yeah, the beach. It's still early, so it's still a good time to head over there. And it rained earlier, but it shouldn't be too bad to head over there. Besides, I haven't been there in some time, so since it's pretty much a free day … I mean, why not?"

He didn't say anything for a moment as he walked. Then he formed a smirk. "If I didn't know better, I would say you dragged me out on a _date_, Ichigo."

"Nya?" She paused, and shook her head. "It's not a date! I told you before, it's just so we can 'bond', since we never do, and to prove that we can go out as _friends_. This is so not a date!"

Was it?

Ugh! Why did everything Ryou say make her want to question everything? She decided that he was definitely the reason she "overthunk" all the time. This was _not_ a date! They'd spend the day together as friends, and if not to bond, then as a part of the bet. Ichigo knew she had to ignore any comments Ryou made further throughout the day.

After all, he had asked her to the beach before, and that wasn't a date. And even if he _did_ bring the rest of the gang along then, that so did not mean that this was any different.

"If you say so. To the beach then. I guess I haven't been there in a while either, so I wouldn't mind heading over there for a little bit," he continued to walk, staring straight ahead, but even so, he did not dare take off the smirk—the evil smirk. "I hope you don't have some big movie moment in your head about a romantic kiss in the sands or anything."

Ignore, ignore, ignore. "That is just eww, Ryou. I agreed to this bet, but I'm not doing this because I actually _want_ to kiss you or anything. The only reason I'm going along with it is because I wouldn't mind having my pay doubled for two months." That was a lie, so what? And it was only a semi-lie. She really was in it for the money, and only _partially_ in it for the kissing. It's not as though she couldn't live without it, though.

He snickered, shrugging his shoulders. "If you say so, Ichigo," he repeated as before, making Ichigo wonder if he even believed her at all. She also wondered if he could read minds, since he had read hers many times already that day.

"Whatever," she muttered, following him. She knew Ryou was going to mess with her mind all day, just as he tended to do every other day. But no matter what, she had to remember not to let him get to her. He'd probably try to trick her into considering her "feelings" for him, although there wasn't any. Even if she didn't mind having him kiss her, it's not as though she did it for the not-even-there feelings. It wasn't even an infatuation.

She chanted in her head: _I do not have feelings for Ryou. I do not have feelings for Ryou. I do not have feelings for Ryou._

But then she got herself dizzy, and decided it really was going to be a long day.

**-End, Part V.**

So there you have it. Ichigo has mixed feelings right now, but really, it's too early for her to have feelings for Ryou, eh? But at least we know there's actually _something_ there. And hey, she's more in the bet for the kissing, rather than the money. Bwahaha x3

Next chapter is one of those "Boo-hoo I love Ichigo, poor me!" Ryou chapters, so you can look forward to that. Also, did you know that the completion of this chapter made the story one-sixth done? One-sixth! That's amazing! And after the next chapter, it'll be one-fifth, which is even better! Okay, it isn't _that_ much, but it's something, right? At least the story's making progress and it's not just sitting there, gathering mold.

Cliffhangin' time! WHAT will happen between Ryou and Ichigo at the beach? WHEN is Ichigo going to finally have actual feelings for Ryou? WHO thinks I'm lying about Ichigo's _real _feelings (which I'm not)? WHY is it still morning with one-sixth of the story done? WHERE is that silly Carmen Sandiego who has nothing to do with the plot of the story? HOW did I type three chapters in less than a week? HOW? Find out in the sixth (making it one-fifth done) chapter of … dun dun dun! … THIRTY SMOOCHIES! x3?


	6. The Space Between Dream and Reality

What is this?! An update?! Holy McGee, it's TRUE! This is a real update! Haha, yes, my friends, I am really (you aren't dreaming!) updating 30 Kisses with a brand new chapter. And if you think about it, it hasn't been THAT long since the last chapter. Well, true, it's been a while, but compared to how long it took to update all the other chapters, this is a much bigger improvement.

Anyhow, I had planned for this to focus again on Ryou's feelings on Ichigo, and while it does have some thoughts about it, it probably didn't focus on it as much as I had planned for it to. Still, although it took a long while to figure out what exactly I was going to write in this chapter, eventually I did figure things out (with the help of dear Miss Cherry :D), and I've finally managed to put things together. Enjoy!

**VI. THE SPACE BETWEEN DREAM AND REALITY**

_The last girl and the last reason to make this last for as long as I could  
__First kiss and the first time that I felt connected to anything  
__The weight of water, the way you told me to look past everything I had ever learned  
__The final word in the final sentence you ever uttered to me was love  
__And I don't know where to look, My words just break and melt  
__Please just save me from this darkness  
_-'Make This Go On Forever' by Snow Patrol

Ryou Shirogane had always loved the beach. It was simple and quiet. The ocean breeze had always been enough to relax him, whenever he felt the need to feel calm. And though he would never actually admit it, he really did enjoy the feel of the sand beneath his feet. Of course, at that point, the sand was still thick and wet from the rain, but what could he do?

He turned to his right, preparing to say something to Ichigo, but just as he opened his mouth, he noticed she had already ran forward, closer to the water. "Ichigo?!"

Turning around to face him, Ichigo simply let out a giggle, slowing down for him to catch up. "Hurry up, slow poke!" She shouted, putting her hands on her hips. "Gosh, you're so slow!"

He shook his head in frustration, walking to her, as he placed his hands in his pocket. "And you're utterly annoying. But I'm sure you knew that information already," he commented, as yet another smirk formed on his face.

"Funny, I could say the same thing about you," she replied, forming her own smirk. Of course, Ryou had to laugh at the sight. "Wh-what?!"

He covered his face in attempt to stop, but it did not good as he continued to snigger. "It's just quite entertaining watching you attempt to act like me. Trust me, Ichigo, you can _not_ pull off the smirk look," he said, just as he realized that she had just made him laugh, which shouldn't sound like an odd thing, but it was indeed odd, when _he_ was the one laughing.

She stared at him. "You're right. I'm much too pretty to do such a thing!" She said, with a quick giggle.

Ryou simply rolled his eyes, before pointing out to the rest of the beach. "Probably picked the worst day to be out here, eh?"

"Yuck," Ichigo grunted, walking through the sand. "Yeah, should've known it would be like this. Oh well, at least it's empty, right?" She raced through the sand, and hopped onto a large rock, patting the space next to her, for him to sit down.

He sighed, shading his eyes from the sun. Though he was relieved that they wouldn't have to face any sort of crowds, he wasn't too excited about yet again being alone with Ichigo. Sure, seeing as how he was in love with her, that would seem like a perfectly good thing. But the two had still not discussed their kiss in the kitchen, for he was pretty sure by now that she had really kissed him back.

Still, he sat next to her on the rock, sitting as back as he could so that his feet wouldn't touch the sand. He held his arms out to stretch. "So, Ichigo, you were the one who dragged us out here. What exactly do you have planned for us to do, anyhow?"

Ichigo gave a disappointed sigh. "Well, I _was_ thinking we could go swimming, but it's kind of messy out here," she said, leaning back on her elbows, before letting out a slight giggle. "Remember the last time we were both here and came out sporting your little speedo?"

He blushed at the comment and looked away. He should had expected for her to bring that up. "Yeah, well–"

"Do you still own that thing?" She asked. He just shook his head in annoyance as she continued to laugh. "Quite the interesting taste in swimwear you have, Ryou."

He shook his head in annoyance, attempting to avoid looking at her so that she wouldn't see the redness of his face. "So ... I used to come here a lot when I was little." He didn't really like the idea of talking about his past, but at this point, he preferred it rather than the prior topic.

The giggles died down. "Really?"

He nodded, remaining silent for a moment. Although he had successfully pulled the conversation away from the talk of speedos, now he had no choice, but to start talking about his history. But as much as he hated talking about himself, he didn't seem to mind too much anymore about telling Ichigo. "Papa used to bring me to the beach a lot. He spent most of his time in his lab; with me following him around everywhere, of course," he paused, with a light chuckle. "But whenever he found the time, usually on the weekends, we'd together to the beach. Mama came along with us, too, sometimes."

As Ichigo stared at him closely, Ryou just stared out at the sun. He opened his mouth to continue speaking, but decided that maybe enough was said. Whenever he brought up the subject of his parents, he ended up just bringing it up to himself how much he missed having them around. Life had really changed for him since the day they were gone.

He felt a comforting hand rest on his shoulder, and realized that the silence had probably only made Ichigo feel sorry for him. Even though it was nice to see she seemed to care, he could see the sad expression on her face from the corner of his eye, and didn't like seeing her look that way. "So, anyway, I guess I just always thought of the beach as a good place to come to whenever I need to clear my thoughts or anything."

Ichigo's expression hadn't changed, and it was really beginning to bug him. He stood up, taking a hold of her arm, as he began to drag her towards the water. "Come on."

"Nyaa–? Where are we going?!"

"Swimming."

"But it's all messy!"

"It's not that bad."

"What if there's jellyfish in there? I freak out at jellyfish. Gosh, I freak out just thinking about them!"

"Don't worry about jellyfish."

"And we're in our clothes!" She whined, as Ryou rolled his eyes. He left go of her arm for a moment so he could unzip his vest. "Oh, yeah, easy for you, but there is no way I'm taking off anything in front of you."

"Don't. It's not such a big deal swimming in your clothes you know. It's a hot day, they'll dry fast." He threw his vest onto a nearby rock, and began to take off his shoes.

She groaned, as she began to take off her own. "You sure you can go swimming like this? I mean, you did leave your cute little speedo back at the café. You might be uncomfortable," she said, with a smile.

He gave a quick glare at her, but put on his signature smirk. "I think I can manage," he said, as he took her arm again and began taking her towards the water, as the waves were now beginning to rush against their ankles.

He led her into the water, and pulled her through until they were deep enough to float, so that their feet were no longer touching the bottom.

Ryou let go of Ichigo's arm as he took in a breath, briefly dragging himself underwater before resurfacing again. He sighed, looking up at the sky, feeling slightly peaceful. That is, before Ichigo had to speak up again.

"You know, I seem to recall a certain Shirogane boy having some trouble trying to keep himself afloat before."

He blinked, and looked over at her. "Huh?"

She floated along the water on her back, as she replied. "You know. The day that chimera anima attacked. You almost drowned that day, but Retasu saved you."

It took Ryou a moment to think, but then he realized what Ichigo was talking about. "Well, yeah, but hey! Under the circumstances I was in, of course I was gonna have some trouble."

She nodded, though it was obvious that she, for some reason, wasn't believing him. "Right, under the circumstances that you can't swim," she said, giggling.

"Of course I can swim!" He complained, although listening to himself speak, he realized he was beginning to sound quite whiney like Ichigo. He twitched at the thought. "I've swam, I've surfed ... gosh, I've even snorkled. I KNOW how to swim, Ichigo."

"Look at you! You can barely keep yourself above the water!" she said, as Ryou simply rolled his eyes at her comment. She swan in front of him and grabbed his arms, attempting to move them. "Keep your arms steady. And swim with your feet."

He looked at her in frustration for a moment, before sighing in defeat, deciding he wouldn't even bothered fighting with her further about this. He attempted to pretend he was actually listening to her, as she continued instructing him on how to swim, even though he knew perfectly well how to. In fact, he was probably a way better swimmer than she was.

She swam behind him so she could continue to try to fix the level of his arms. "So, um ... what exactly happened that day, anyway?"

He stayed silent for a moment, thinking back on the day. "Well, you know ... the chimera anima attacked and I got thrown in the water. I _would_ have swam, but with the impact of the boat getting turned over and crashing so suddenly in the water like that, not to mention getting dragged downed by the chimera anima, I couldn't exactly do much," he said, giving a sigh. "Anyway, Retasu managed to save me, that's all." Ichigo just nodded in reply, as he continued, giving a short laugh. "Just kind of ironic, being saved by a kiss and all."

She looked up upon hearing him. " ... what?"

He turned his head slightly, so that he could at least seeing her behind him from the corner of his eye. He had actually forgotten that he hadn't mentioned that to her before. "Well, yeah. I mean, I wasn't so sure at first, but I eventually figured out that while we were down there, she kissed me. That's sort of what saved me, actually."

" ... Oh."

Ryou blinked, listening to the tone of her voice. Instead of being a simple 'oh', it seemed like there was something more to it, something like ... disappointment, maybe? "What?"

"Nya? Oh! Nothing, it's nothing!" She replied, giving a nervous laugh. "I just think it's weird, you know, you and ... Retasu. I never thought you two were ..."

He turned his body completely around to face her. Was she upset? Was she perhaps jealous? He shook the idea out of his head, denying the possibility of Ichigo actually thinking of him that way. But still, he couldn't help but believe that there was something wrong with her voice in the sense that she wasn't too happy about the idea of him and Retasu having kissed. " ... What would it matter if we were?"

She blushed slightly, having difficult coming up with a reply. "Uh, no! I just mean that ... you know, I just think that Retasu would really do a lot better."

Ryou had to laugh at that. "Oh, really?"

Ichigo went with the attempt at a smirk yet again. "Yeah, really."

He held back another laugh. As silly as she looked, she was still cute when she attempted it. "Again, Ichigo. Cut it out with the whole smirk thing. You're beginning to creep me out."

"Oh, so you can do it, but I can't?" She asked, giving a pout.

Seeing her expression, he put on the smirk. "Cause I look good doing it."

She blinked at him, before bursting out into laughter. "Oh, right. Sure!" She said, continuing to laugh.

Ryou couldn't help but smile watching her. He then remembered his recent realization: how he loved her. It was strange that moment in the water, being with her then. He spent almost every day with her, yet being with her at that instant, the feeling he was having, made it all seem almost surreal, as if he was dreaming. Maybe he was about to wake up soon.

He shook his thoughts, realizing he was getting too serious about the situation. He went back to the dream-reality or whatever it was–he'd figured it out eventually–and pointed behind Ichigo. " ... Ichigo, there's a jellyfish behind you."

As expected by Ryou, Ichigo jumped up in the water with a loud scream. "NYA?!" But it wasn't exactly expected when Ichigo jumped up in the water, and to Ryou, clinging onto his neck. "WHERE?!"

"GAH!" Ryou screamed, feeling slight pain from this action. "You just kicked my ribs!"

She looked at his face, not removing her hands from around his neck. "What?! Oh, stop being a big baby!"

He stared at her in shock. She brutally beats him to death, and he was now a baby?! "ME?! Baby?! If anyone's a baby, it's you! Considering you're the one who's screaming and jumping around, getting scared of an imaginary jellyfish!"

"Imaginary?! That thing was–!" She paused, replaying over what he had just said. "Wait ... imaginary? There's ... there's no jellyfish?"

Ryou sighed, as the pain slightly went away. "I don't see how you've managed to survive for so long with your small amount of brain capacity. No, there's no jellyfish. I was just trying to freak you out," he said, with a twitch. "I very much regret that decision now."

"Would you do it with her?"

He blinked. "Huh?"

"The thirty kisses. With Retasu, I mean. Would you kiss her thirty times?"

Ryou blinked again, not having expected quite a question. "I don't ... wait, what's this whole thing with Retasu anyway? Ever since I mentioned the kiss with her, you've been all paranoid about it. What are you, Ichigo? Jealous?"

She blushed, quickly shaking her head. "W-what?! No way! I actually feel bad for her that she had to kiss you. Although I'm probably the more unfortunate one considering it's me that's stuck doing this silly bet with you."

"Hey, don't diss the bet now. You're the one who wanted to make it official."

"Yeah, cause I wanted money!" She groaned, shaking her head. "Look, I'm just asking, because it's just weird, that out of everybody, you'd choose to kiss _me_ thirty times, and I see that you and Retasu have a connection of some sort, so I figure, why wouldn't you kiss _her_ thirty times?"

That was an easy answer. He wasn't in love with Retasu. "Retasu's kind and sweet. She would definitely not freak out if I kissed her. You, on the other hand, whenever I kiss you, you start yelling and whining and screeching at the top of your lungs. And as annoying as you can get, it can be quite entertaining and fascinating watching you immediately freak out, and going on for hours in a panic."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, half-smiling. "So ... you kiss me because it's ... exciting to you?"

He neared his face towards her and gave a slight nod. "You could say that," he said, tilting his head to kiss her softly. He prepared to pull back, but was surprised to find that she was keeping the kiss going. Now there was no questioning it; she _was_ kissing him back.

As strange as the action was, Ryou didn't waste his time with thinking about it. The way this was going, it just had to be a dream, but oddly enough, he knew it wasn't. This was reality, as bizarre as it was turning out. Or perhaps he was just stuck in the space between dream and reality; somewhere where everything seemed like a part of his own imagination, but were really happening. Something like this.

The kiss ended, as Ichigo pulled back, keeping an expression of shock at what had just happened. It made Ryou wonder whether she had really intended to keep the kiss going, or if it was all just an accident of some sort. "I'm, um ... I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he said, not taking his eye off of her, although she was avoiding any sort of eye contact with him. "I mean, but why did you ... ?"

"I don't know," she answered quickly, finally looking up at him. "I guess, it was just a spur-of-the-moment. It's just that you've kissed me so many times already and ... It doesn't really matter, though, right? It was just a sudden thing. No big deal. It means absolutely nothing ... right?"

He gulped, holding back to keep from saying something incredibly stupid. Luckily, he nodded to her before that happened. "Right, it means nothing. Just a spur-of-the-moment. Of course. After all, this thing we're doing, it's all just a bet, and that's that."

He sighed. This was the second time; the second time she had kissed him back. However, he believed what she had said about it not meaning anything. At least it meant nothing to her. And because he'd never admit otherwise, it would mean nothing to him. Even if it _had_ meant everything, he'd only have her believe that it was all just nothing.

And then he noticed something else. "You know, Ichigo, you really are heavy, so could you please let go of me now?"

She began to blush, realizing that she was indeed still holding onto him, aside from the fact that he was also shirtless in this situation. She quickly let go, moving slightly away from him. "Right, uh, sorry about that!" She turned away from him, and looked back at the shore. "We should probably be getting out now. We'll need some time to dry off."

He nodded, even though she was facing away and couldn't see him. He followed her as they approached the sand. Things were beginning to become awkward again between them just as they had the first time she had kissed him back. He really didn't like it when it turned into this sort of a situation. "You know, Ichigo, this brings me one step closer to winning the bet. You're doing a really bad job at keeping me away."

She looked over at him, and crossed her arms. "You really believe you're going to win?"

"What? And you think _you're_ going to win? I've kissed you six times already and it's still morning. You haven't even been able to stop a single kiss from me. I say, with the way things are going, the chances of you winning this bet are slim to none," he said, as he grabbed his vest from the rock and zipped it back on.

Ichigo slipped her shoes back on, as she shook her head. "Don't get all cocky on me now, Ryou. It's like the race of the tortoise and the hare. You may be in the lead now, but you have to remember–"

"Slow and steady wins the race?" He couldn't help but laugh at that. "Right, that's a really nice analogy you have going there." He sat on a small rock to put his shoes on. "So, Ichigo, we've hit the beach and we've gone swimming, so what else do you have planned for us?"

"Well," she began as she stretched her arms in the air. "I do have an idea in mind."

"And what's that?"

She smiled, shaking her head. "It's a surprise. You'll just have to see when we get there."

He raised an eyebrow. He did not like surprises. "Ichigo, you know I don't like surprises." He made sure she knew that. "If you're planning on taking us somewhere where we'll most likely be killed, could you at least warn me before hand."

"Don't worry, Ryou, I promise it won't kill you. In fact, I'm pretty sure you might actually enjoy it."

He sighed, standing up. "If you say so, Ichigo. Well ... lead the way, I guess."

She giggled, taking his arm. "You'll love it, I swear!"

When she said things like that, Ryou knew he had to worry. After all, she believed this "day of fun" business was a good idea, and look where they were.

Actually, Ryou couldn't exactly tell where they were anymore. Sure, they were currently walking out of the beach in Tokyo, but that wasn't what he met. Where were he and Ichigo _emotionally_?

Maybe it was as he expected. Maybe she didn't have any feelings for him at all, but there had to be something going on between them. Or he was just dreaming. Even if he was really in the real world at the moment, in his mind, he kept wanting to believe things could be what they weren't. Or maybe they _were _possible.

Maybe his dream of being with Ichigo could actual become a reality. _Maybe_.

**-End, Part VI.**

Yup, another chapter over and done with. You know what this means?! Eh, eh, eh?! This means I'm ONE-FIFTH of the story done! Bwahaha! One step closer to completing the story. Although, let's face it, I still have some ways to go. I'm not gonna spoil anything to you all, but I can say that I do know where this story's going. I do have a lot planned and while I may be too lazy to write things down, I _do_ know what I'm supposed to be writing. Well, sort of.

The next chapter will be a fun one. I won't say what Ichigo's planning, but it will be awesome. :)

Anyhow, because I haven't done a single cliffhanger voice in so many months, I'm gonna get to that, since I really do miss it. clears throat WHAT exactly does Ichigo have planned for her and Ryou to do next? WHEN will Ryou and Ichigo actually end getting together? WHO feels bad that poor Ryou-chan isn't getting any love? WHY do you think Ichigo keeps kissing Ryou back (although while you should know this answer look to chapter 5, Ryou doesn't)? WHERE in the world is dear old Carmen Sandiego who has all the secrets and spoilers of Thirty Kisses in the palm of her hand (now you want to find her, don't you?)? HOW will I ever get this story done at the pace that I'm going? Not to worry, friends! You'll find out whenever I get off my lazy darn butt and type up the next chapter and submit it and then you read it, the seventh installment of THIRTY KISSES! WHOO!


	7. Superstar

Thank you all for reading the past chapter and for the lovely reviews! You really did make me a happy chippie! I'm also really happy that people are loving this story and adding it to their favorites! Here are the statistics: 76 story favorites, 77 story alerts, 53 author favorites, and 37 author alerts. You just don't know how happy that makes me! It made me so happy that I wasted no time in doing a new chapter.

I was gonna post this later, but I was re-reading some of the reviews you all have given me, and they really did get me all teary. It does mean a lot to me that you all like this story, because it really does inspire me as a writer. So thus, you have discovered the secret to getting me to write and post: write teary reviews. If you make me cry, it doubles my current speed. XD Well, maybe. Hehe.

This chapter is quite an interesting one, I think. I knew exactly what I would write for it way before I even started, so it didn't take me too long to type it up. It's another Ichigo chapter so it goes in to talk about her bizarre feelings for Ryou that may or may not be there and so forth. To sum it up, Ichigo's basically in a confused place right now, and I can guarantee that she will be for a pretty long while. But still, it's quite fun seeing her freak out going, "Do I love Ryou?! Do I not love Ryou?! Do I hate Ryou?! Do I not hate Ryou?! OMGOMGOMG!!" Wouldn't you agree:D

**VII. SUPERSTAR**

_Just like a star across my sky,  
__Just like an angel off the page,  
__You have appeared to my life,  
__Feel like I'll never be the same,  
__Just like a song in my heart,  
__Just like oil on my hands,  
__Honored to love you.  
_-'Like A Star' by Corinne Bailey Rae

"You can't stop this feeling! You can't run away! Baby, I'm what's on your mind! You can't stop this feeling! There's no escape! No sleep tonight! You won't get no sleep tonight!"

Ichigo bowed, as the shouts and applause in the crowd grew louder. She smiled, watching the crowd grow wild, shouting her name loudly, asking for an encore, as some of them threw gifts and flowers onto the stage.

"Well, I guess I could sing you all just one more song!" She shouted into the microphone, causing the audience to clap and cheer even louder. She brought the microphone up to her lips as she once again opened her mouth to sing.

"Ichigo, are you daydreaming again?"

"Huh?" Ichigo turned to see Ryou looking at her oddly. Looking around at her surroundings, she realized they were in the middle of the sidewalk, where there was no stage, no audience, no singing. Just her and Ryou. Well, there were also some trees, benches, buildings, random people crossing the street, birds beating on other birds for their worm breakfast, and other such not so fascinating things. The point of this is, Ichigo _had_ been daydreaming again.

"You keep up with this and you're bound to crash into another tree," Ryou said, shoving his hands into his pockets, walking ahead. "And as entertaining as it would be to see that scene again, it really would be embarrassing for me to be seen with you."

She crossed her arms, mumbling to herself. "I wasn't daydreaming ... "

Ichigo still couldn't get used to the fact that she had to spend the whole day with Ryou, her idiot-mean employer, whom she had made a bet with to kiss thirty times. Of course, it was her fault the bet was made official in the first place, but it's not as if it was really her idea. Still, she wasn't even sure the money she would get out of it was worth it anymore.

Twice. It had been two times already in which Ichigo returned Ryou's kiss. She repeated to herself that she definitely did not feel anything for him. After all, it had only been a few hours since her on-paper break-up with Masaya, and it had been over a year since her hate for Ryou began. So how could just a few kisses change her mind about him?

Well, it would help if he wasn't such a good kisser.

As much as she couldn't stand Ryou, she couldn't help but return it when he kissed her. Besides, it wasn't as if she absolutely hated him. He was a jerk, yes, but he wasn't some soulless demon from the land beyond, nor was he the tin-man without a heart. He was just Ryou, her cute blond-haired boss who liked to tease her about things which didn't need teasing and who attempted to kiss her whenever she least expected it. And he wasn't bad at it either.

But things were really beginning to become awkward between her and Ryou. Sure, she secretly decided with herself that she'd let Ryou kiss her continuously throughout the day without passing a count of twenty-nine, but there was absolutely no kissing back allowed!

"So, are we almost there?" Ryou asked, staring ahead.

She and Ryou had just come back from the beach, and were now on to their next destination, which Ichigo had said was a surprise. No, it wasn't something _too _surprising like an abandoned warehouse where she could beat Ryou with a giant shovel and then just stick his body in a giant blender. It was someplace she really enjoyed and figured Ryou might like too.

She shook her head. "No, not yet. Just a few more blocks that way," she said, pointing ahead of them. A groan came from his direction. "Oh, don't get all whiney on me now, Ryou. Sorry if I'm making you walk so much, but you shouldn't be complaining. The exercise can be good for you."

"I just don't see how this day can feel so long. We haven't even reached the afternoon yet and I feel like I'm been stuck with you for months already," he muttered, scratching the back of his neck. "I can't imagine what living with you would be like. You're already annoying by just seeing you at work."

"Hey!" She whined. "I'm not that bad of a person to hang out with! What about you with your pointless smart remarks and your completely random kissing?"

He gave a shrug. "What can I say? It's a bet," was all he said, not making any sort of comment about the smart remarks.

She rolled her eyes. This was so typical of Ryou to act so calm and cool about it all. She had already been used to Ryou's ways and most of what he said or did, so in a lot of ways, she could see she knew Ryou pretty well. Of course, it still didn't fail that on occasion he'd do something so unexpected and unpredictable, that she began to wonder if even after knowing him for so long, that maybe she really didn't _know_ him.

"That's not really the point. I just don't see why you can't be _normal_?"

He raised an eyebrow at that. "What is normal, really? Is there really such a thing?"

She scoffed. "Yeah, there's such a thing as normal. Like ... I mean, whenever someone says something, there's always a typical common reply or comment to that something that the majority of people would say. But you ... you _never_ give that typical comment. You're always saying your own bizarre weird thing."

"And why should I be like everybody else? What's the point of saying the things that everyone else would? There isn't one. What would make someone unique if they did or said the most general, average things?" He turned to her, flicking her forehead. "And look who's talking about being normal? You've been nothing but bizarre since I met you."

"I'm not bizarre," she said, though she knew he was right. She rubbed her forehead, sending a glare in his direction. "Okay, fine, so it's good to be unique, but what about you, guy-with-at-least-ten-different-personalities? I mean, you're one thing at one moment, and then at the next, it's like you've changed your attitude yet again. If you're gonna try to be unique, don't be five hundred forms of it."

Before he could reply to her, she pointed to a building. "We're here."

He turned to look at where she pointed too, and raised an eyebrow, surprised. "A karaoke bar? Are you serious?" He turned back to her, not sure what to say about this.

She nodded with a smile. "I figured you'd enjoy it. Getting up on stage, just singing whatever you not, whether you have talent or not. It's really fun! Have you done this before?"

He sweatdropped. "Uh, once. Not by choice, either. It's a long story," he said, not planning to go into further detail. "I guess we can go in. As long as you don't think that I'm actually going to go up and sing something. You go into your own musical number if you want, but I'm not getting on that stage."

"Why not?"

"Ichigo."

She giggled. "Fine, if you say so. But we _are_ going in, okay?" She said, entering through the door. "Are you sure though? You're going to see all these people going up there, having fun, and you're gonna regret not singing anything."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," he said, rolling his eyes as he followed her inside.

She smiled. She figured he'd give in eventually and he'd end up singing anyhow. So for now, she wouldn't attempt to push him into it or anything. Not just yet.

Since it was still morning, the bar wasn't too crowded, so there was plenty of places to sit. They chose a quiet area near the back and sat, as the current person on stage was finishing their song, not quite staying on key.

"Woah oh oh! Ah, ah, ah! Get out of that state! Get out of that state! You're living in your own private Idaho, living in your own private ... Idaho!"

Ryou twitched, rubbing his ears. "This is going to hurt, isn' it?"

Ichigo gave a chuckle, resting her elbows on the table. "So what exactly happened when you came here the first time?"

He shook his head. "Nuh-uh, I am not going to talk about it."

"Aww, come on!"

Ryou groaned, covering his eyes with his hands. "Keiichiro had made these cookies one time, and I had one. And then ... well, I had another, and another, and kept on until I had, I don't know, about twelve, I think," he sighed, continuing. "Anyway, Keiichiro and I came here, and well ... the night ended with me singing a horrible sugar-high version of This Love by Maroon 5."

"HA!" Ichigo covered her mouth to keep from laughing further. "No way!"

He nodded, crossing his arms. "Yes, that is what happened. Happy?"

"So you got on a sugar-high and you got up there and sang? This Love?!" She kept biting her lip, trying not to giggle so much, but it was quite difficult not to do so.

"Go ahead and laugh all you want, but it will never happen again. I am never again going up there on that stage."

Ichigo smiled, standing up. "Well, fine. You don't have to go, but I am. Be prepared, Ryou, for you are about to listen to the best performance ever in your life," she said, as she hopped on over to the stage.

Ryou sighed, watching her, not sure whether he wanted to see this or not.

She went up the stage, grabbing the microphone and smiling as the music began.

_You wait up for me I don't wake up for you  
__Would you like the company or are you sick of me  
__When your love lets you go, you only want love more  
__Even when love wasn't what you were looking for  
__  
Speak slow, tell me love where do we go? Ah, ah!  
__Where do we go? Ah, ah! Where do we go?  
__  
Break down, plead your case, I don't know what to say  
__I leave my heart all this pain and now I'm at it all again  
__On these streets that I leave for weeks on end, who's to blame  
__When you want love, doesn't matter what you're looking for_

She looked over at Ryou while she sang, and couldn't help but notice that he was smiling. Was that a smile? Or maybe he was laughing at her. No, that was definitely a smile. She smiled back.

_Speak slow, tell me love where do we go? Ah, ah!  
__Where do we go? Ah, ah! Where do we go? _

_So far away and I just can't see you I'm  
__So far along and I just don't need you  
__I am so ah-alone, so ah-alone, so ah-alone, so ah-alone  
__  
So far away and I just can't see you I'm  
__So far along and I just don't need you  
__I am so ah-alone, so ah-alone, so ah-alone, so ah-alone  
__  
When your love lets you go you only want love more  
__Even when love wasn't what you were looking for  
__  
When your love lets you go you only want love more  
__Even when love wasn't what you were looking for  
__  
Speak slow, tell me love where do we go? Ah, ah!  
__Where do we go? Ah, ah! Where do we go?_

The audience in the bar applauded as she bowed, smiling. Sure, it wasn't like her dream, being famous up on stage, while everyone cheered and screamed, asking for more, but it still felt nice. Even Ryou was clapping for her.

She hopped back over to him, and sat back down. "So, what do you think? Not too shabby, eh?"

He chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I guess you weren't all too bad. You still sound kind of funny when you sing through."

"Hey!" She pouted.

He chuckled again, placing a hand on her head. "I'm just kidding. You were pretty good."

Ichigo smiled, giving a shrug as he removed his hand. "And what about you? I've never actually heard you sing. Maybe you should go up there and give me a little sneak peek at sugar-high Ryou and sing a little bit of This Love."

Ryou laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"Hardcore superstar! By far you're the ultimate star! Do you wanna be a superstar?! Well that's what you are! You're gonna be a star! Do you wanna be a superstar?!"

Ichigo and Ryou looked at the tall girl that was singing off-key on stage. They both grew quiet watching her. Ichigo then spoke up first. "Yeah, no, I don't think you'd be as bad as that."

"Right, I'm still not doing it."

She sighed, looking off for a moment. Just as she was beginning to believe she might not be able to get him up on stage after all, an evil smile formed on her face, as an idea formed in her head. She knew a perfect way to start convincing him. "You know, if you go up ... I'll let you kiss me."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I have to make sure you don't kiss me more than twenty-nine times, but if you go up there right now and sing, I'll let you kiss me without stopping it."

"Oh, really?" He chuckled. "As if you haven't been kissing me back anyway."

She put on a nervous smile, looking away, as a blush formed on her face. "That's ... that's not the point," she shrugged, not making eye contact. "Look, just go up there, and it'll be a free kiss, and you'll be one step closer. You won't have to try and catch me off guard or anything."

"I just have to go up there?"

"Well, and you have to sing too of course."

Ryou sighed, standing up from the table. "Fine, but I am _not_ singing This Love."

She giggled again, and nodded. She really was hoping she'd get to see that in action, because she knew it had to be way funnier and entertaining than the version that was playing in her mind. But it didn't matter, just getting him up there to sing anything at all would just have to do. "Alright, but just sing something, okay?"

He hesitated to move, but he stepped over to the front of the room, and walked onto the stage. Even though he had been on sugar-high that night, the memory of being on that stage was still fresh in his mind, and he didn't want to repeat doing it again. Oh well.

_You want your independence, but you won't let me let you go  
__You want to test the waters and leave it on the empty shores  
__  
But I'll take my time if you want to, and I'll give you whatever you need  
__And I'll wait a lifetime to give in to you, give in to you  
__  
You think that you're the sun, the whole world revolves around you  
__The center of attention, and everything is drawn to you  
__  
But I'll take my time if you want to, and I'll give you whatever you need  
__And I'll wait a lifetime to give in to you, give in to you_

Ichigo watched as Ryou sang his song, and watched with fascination. She had no idea that he would be singing this good; so good that she was completely drawn into the song and amazed by how he sang it with such emotion. It made her wonder if there was someone he was singing it to.

_But I'll take my time if you want to, and I'll give you whatever you need  
__And I'll wait a lifetime to give in to you, give in to you  
__  
Ooh, ooh, ooh ooooh! Ooh, ooh, ooh ooooh!  
__Ooh, ooh, ooh ooooh! Ooh, ooh, ooh ooooh!  
__  
I would wait a lifetime and I would wait for you  
__I would wait a lifetime and I would wait for you  
__I would wait a lifetime and I would wait for you  
__I would wait a lifetime for you_

The audience clapped loudly as Ryou finished, and walked back over to Ichigo, sitting down. "Well, there you go, Ichigo. I sang, just as you told me to."

"You ... were good," she said, and without saying anything else, she leaned over and kissed him briefly.

He blinked numerously. "You kissed me."

Biting her lip, she nodded. "Well, yeah, I said I would if you went up there, didn't I?"

"No," he said, shaking his head, as a smirk formed on his face. "You said you'd let _me _kiss you. You said nothing about kissing me."

"Not the point," she said quickly, though she was already blushing. Okay, although she was backing off with kissing him back, this was probably much worse. Now she was the one kissing _him_? This was not good. Ichigo had to put an end to this whole Ryou-kissing business. No kissing him back and now no kissing him on her own. She figured by the end of the day, she was going to have a pretty long list.

"It seems to me that everything isn't the point to you," he replied, keeping his smirk on as he leaned back in his chair. "So, tell me, Ichigo, what is the point to all of this then, hmm?"

She chose to ignore his question, and prepared to stand up. "It's probably time that we leave now, don't you think?" She stated, with a nervous laugh.

"We just got here."

"So?" She stood up, but he took her arm and pulled her back down. "What?!"

He blinked at her. "First of all, you dragged us here. You can't just leave now so quickly. Second, it seems to me that you're avoiding something. And third ..." he flicked her nose. "I think someone seems to enjoy kissing me."

Ichigo blushed a deep shade of red as he spoke. She quickly looked away, not quite knowing how to respond to that. "What?! That's insane! Why would I enjoy kissing _you_?! I was just going through with my part of the deal, that's all."

"The deal wasn't for _you _to kiss me."

"Oh, gosh, details. Who cares? Look, just because I kissed you, it doesn't mean I actually enjoy it, alright?" She crossed her arms and legs. "I've had better." Ryou laughed at that. "What's so funny?"

He continued to laugh, as he stretched. "Nothing, Ichigo, absolutely nothing." Yet, he did not cease laughing.

Ichigo groaned. Typical, yet not-so-typical Ryou. She truly did get awfully annoyed with him quite easily, yet for some reason, she wasn't actually _mad_ at him for anything. He gave the rudest comments and he teased her constantly, but while it got on her nerves, she was never upset at him for it. He really was strange; strange to the point where she doubted she'd ever be able to understand him or the way he made her feel.

Made her feel, as in confused and absolutely frustrated, yet not too upset about it all. It was definitely not as in anything related to romance or actual _feelings_. She was definitely and absolutely not in love with Ryou or anything.

That was just ... _eww_.

Still, Ichigo was afraid that just because she liked kissing him that maybe it did mean something else. Sure, people kissed people a lot without being in love or anything of the sort, but heck, Ichigo still had to worry. Even if it wasn't love, what if there was still something there? What if it was something less complicated, but still confusing? Perhaps it was pre-love?

Was there even such a thing as pre-love? If there was, Ichigo hoped it had nothing to do with her and Ryou. She was probably just over-thinking again. Sure, she liked kissing Ryou, but in no way did it mean anything else than that.

Ichigo got away from her thoughts when she saw Ryou stand up. "Come on," he said to her, as he held out his hand.

She blinked at it for a few moments before finally taking it. He pulled her up from her seat. "What, we're leaving now? I thought you wanted to stay."

"The show must go on! The show must go on! Inside my heart is breaking! My makeup may be flaking! But my smile still stays oooooon!"

Ryou pointed to the person singing up on the stage. "If I have to hear any more of this, I think I may actually burst out into tears. We are definitely leaving," he said, pulling her by the hand out of the bar.

Ichigo giggled. "If you say so, Ryou," she said, before her attention was caught by her hand in his. It wasn't meant to mean anything; he was just dragging her outside. But for some reason, Ichigo felt strange about it all.

For some reason, she didn't ever want to let go.

**-End, Part VII.**

Ta-da! Another chapter done! Don't you all just love me right now? I'm going at the speed of a yellow bullet! WHOO! (Oooh, Head Automatica reference there!) Since this was a karaoke chapter, there's some extra songs in there aside from the usual intro song, so I'll go ahead and list them here for you.

_- "No Sleep Tonight" by The Faders (Ichigo sings in her daydream)  
__- "Private Idaho" by The B-52's (Off-Key Singer when they enter the bar)  
__- "Speak Slow" by Tegan and Sara (Ichigo sings at the bar)  
__- "Superstar" by Tegan and Sara (Off-Key Singer after Ichigo sits down)  
__- "Center of Attention" by Jackson Waters (Ryou sings at the bar)  
__- "The Show Must Go On" by Queen (Off-Key singer before they leave)_

These are all really great songs, so you should really download them and listen to them. Especially the song that Ryou sang, it's really darn awesome, it makes your jaw drop just listening to the music! Um, but yeah, you should really listen to them if you can, they're great songs.

Now, you have to guess what time it is! Yup, yup! If you do, I'll give you a cookie! YES, IT'S CLIFFHANGER TIME! But you don't get a cookie. Why? Cause one, you probably read it before you had the time to guess, and two, even if you did guess correctly, I don't even have cookies for myself, so it's less likely that I'll have one for you. ANYHOO! WHAT exactly is Ichigo feeling; is it love, pre-love, or what? WHEN will Ichigo admit to Ryou that really does like kissing him? WHO agrees with me that singing karaoke is just plain awesome? WHY is it that for some reason Ryou and Ichigo were the only two singers that were on key and didn't make any ears bleed in this chapter? WHERE is Miss Sandiego and WILL she ever show up or am I just leading it you all? HOW is it that Carmen Sandiego is getting more love in these reviews than Ryou and Ichigo are?! And now, I'd say you'd find out in the next chapter, but we all know, I never really answer my cliffhanger questions. STILL, that's no reason for you to not review and not read the next chapter! So review for most Rychigo goodness in THIRTY KISSES:D


	8. Our Own World

How nice of me to complete another loving chapter for you all. I became really frustrated with this chapter, because though I had an idea of what to write in it, it only took up a small part of the chapter, so I had to shove in more into it, which just ending up having me steal ideas I had for future chapters and just bringing them in a little earlier than as planned.

In this chapter, it's just more Ryou/Ichigo bonding. I realized that things have probably been a little boring lately, considering everything's pretty much been just bonding for RxI, but this is the moment where things will get a bit more complicated and we'll most likely be starting to see some conflicts ending up here and there.

I stole a scene from Final Fantasy X for this chapter, so if you've played the game, and you read further, you'll probably pick it up quite easily. I should get sued for grabbing ideas from everything. Oh ho ho!

**VIII. OUR OWN WORLD**

_This could be perfect, It could be worth it  
__This could be perfect, If I wasn't worthless  
__If I could be a part of your world, leave this all behind  
__I would investigate a perfect life with you  
__If I could say it in another way  
__These words could make this right  
__I would investigate a perfect love with you  
_-'The Investigation' by Sugarcult

"You know, it's a darn shame I couldn't get a slight glimpse of sugar-high Ryou."

"Oh, you would have really liked that, would you?"

"It would have been lucky if I had a camera too."

"Ichigo ... "

"What'd I do?!"

Ryou sighed and rubbed the side of his temple. It was aggravating when speaking to Ichigo, and he wasn't quite sure that he'd even be able to last the entire day with her around. Whether he had feelings for her or not, she was still so darn annoying that he was actually surprised he hadn't ripped every strand of hair from his head already. Then, his stomach growled.

Ichigo looked over at him, and began to giggle. "Wow, that was loud."

Slightly embarrassed, he kept walking straight ahead. "Just hungry, I guess."

"Oh, well, that sounds ... fun," she mumbled, walking quickly behind him, attempting to catch up. "Didn't you already eat though? What about the cereal?"

"What about it?" He questioned, giving a quick shrug.

"Well, I have some Smarties here, if you want some," she said, pointing down to her pocket.

Ryou smirked, and just had to chuckle at that. "Are you calling me dumb?"

Ichigo sweatdropped, not quite sure if he was just kidding or not. "I just mean, I have the candy here."

"Well, then hand some over."

She gave a huge grin. "Well, I have two left. But I'm quite hungry myself, so I'm not sure if they'll get to you."

"Then why offer in the first place?"

"Just trying to be polite."

There she was again, making him completely frustrated. It really did make him wonder if she purposely enjoyed annoying him as much as she did. But then he realized that he probably teased her just as much. And he had to admit, he _did_ enjoy it. So it was probably the same thing for her.

Wait ... was this what it was like to be Ichigo?

He shook the thought away, not really thinking it a good idea to compare himself to Ichigo. A short strawberry with a lint-sized brain was the last thing he would ever become in his life. If that were ever to happen, he'd probably spend the rest of his days stuck in some sort of sanitarium for the mentally challenged.

"We're getting ice cream," he stated simply, not waiting for a response from Ichigo, as he began heading towards a small green-roofed ice cream shop just across the street. It wasn't as if he was getting it for her anyway. He just hated having to listen to his own stomach growl.

"Oh, I want some, too!"

"I didn't ask you."

She pouted, putting her hands on her hips. "Hey, that's not fair!" Ryou just rolled his eyes, as she continued to shout, making his ear drums vibrate. "You just can't take me along to get ice cream and just not get me anything. I want strawberry-flavored!"

"Well, of course you do," he scoffed, holding the door open for her. She hopped inside, as her eyes began to glow and became transfixed on the display of colorful and different flavored ice creams. "They're so pretty!"

He stared as she bounced on her two feet with excitement, not once taking her eyes off of the bright desserts. He attempted to hold back laughing as he watched her. She was like a small child stuck in her own eternal world of sugar heaven. He had actually always found it kind of cute the way her eyes would sparkle like kaleidoscopes, which tended to be the reason why it was always so difficult for him not to look at her.

This time, however, he let out a cough, turning his own eyes away, and look at what her vision was focusing on. "Now that you've had your moment to fascinate over the ice cream ... is strawberry your final choice?"

She sighed, now becoming unsure of herself. "But the colors–the pretty colors. I could go with strawberry. But then what about the cookie dough? Oh, but then they have lemon sorbet."

He ignored her and didn't wait for a definite answer as he stepped over to the cash register to ask the cashier for their order. Ichigo remained leaning over the counter, staring at the flavors, attempting to make a decision on what she now wanted. Every once in a while, her face would light up as if she had made a decision, but she'd quickly frown, immediately changing her mind.

A few minutes later, Ichigo finally stood up straight, nodding her head, though she did not take her eyes off of the ice cream. "Okay, you know what? I think I'll just go along with–" She stopped speaking, as an ice cream cone, complete with all three flavors she had been contemplating on choosing.

"I figured you were _never_ going to make up your mind. So I decided it'd just probably make both of our lives a lot easier and a lot _faster_ if you just ended up getting all three flavors. Don't you agree?"

She blinked, as he handed her the cone. "Oh ... wow. Thank you, Ryou," she gave a slight smile. She was slightly embarrassed that she had been totally indecisive about which flavor she wanted, but at the same time was pretty thankful that she ended up with all of them anyway. Besides, she really shouldn't care or worry about Ryou going through the trouble anyway.

As the two stepped out of the shop, Ryou licked his ice cream slowly, at the same time, watching Ichigo with fascination as she bit straight in the strawberry-flavored part of her ice cream. Immediately, she winced, biting her lip, most likely in reaction of a brain freeze. "You shouldn't rush."

She turned her eyes to him, as she held the side of her head with one of her hands. "And what? Go at the nice, calm, turtle pace you're going?"

"I like to take my time."

"Well, sometimes, taking your time might not be the best idea. By the time you decide to act and finally actually eat your ice cream, the sun would have melted it and it'll be running down your fingers and then it'll be too late. So, maybe you should rethink about picking up the pace a little."

He wondered if there had been some hidden metaphor stuck in there somewhere. He didn't over-think it. Instead he just shrugged, and continued to lick his ice cream as slowly as he possible could.

Ichigo stared at him, and poke him with her free hand.

"What?" He muttered, cursing silently under his breath.

She slightly licked her ice cream, still recovering from the cold sensation in her head. "Why so grouchy?"

Ryou stopped walking just as they stepped on a small bridge over a small stream of water, so he could turn and look at her. "I thought, to you, I was _always_ grouchy."

"No, you are," she replied, quickly. "It's just that now the grouchiness seems to be much more easily noticeable."

Rather than questioning it further, he gave up right then and there, giving up on trying to get more sense to come out of her. "Well, I'm just the same as ever," he said to her, not quite sure what clues or signs he was letting out that revealed a stronger aura of "grouch".

She threw the tiny bit of her ice cream in a nearby trash can, before leaning her back against the edge of the bridge, spreading her arms across the railing. "Oh, I see what it is. This is about a girl, isn't it? You're thinking about the mystery girl which you so happen to be madly in love with, but you don't want to admit it!"

He couldn't help but laugh at the irony.

"There's no girl," he murmured quietly, in hopes that he could once again find a way to somehow change the subject. He hated this. Having to talk about her _with her_, yet at the same time, her not knowing that they were actually talking about _her_. The words were getting so mixed up in his mind at the moment, that he wasn't even sure what to think anymore.

He figured it would be good to let it out, to talk about his feelings for her with someone, but would it really make sense to talk about Ichigo _with_ Ichigo? Even if that _was_ a good idea, what would be the reason behind that? Well, that was something he, for one, could definitely not find.

Besides, it would also almost feel as though he was tricking her. And that was something he really did not feel up to doing. Even though that was practically what he did every single day, by not telling her how he felt. But, of course, it has always been an argument as to whether not revealing something to a person is lying or whether it was just concealing the truth without an alternate answer.

Ichigo sighed, placing a hand on her hip. "Alright, I'll let you in on my secret to feeling better."

_Oh no_, he thought, as she spoke. He already knew that he had to prepare before listening to one of her ideas. "Do I really want to know?" He asked, as he ate the last bit of his ice cream cone and leaned over the railing to look at the water flow in the river below them. "What is it? Having a day of fun?"

"What? No!" She shook her head quickly. "Whenever I feel upset about something, it's always best to let it all out. All you have to do is scream."

He raised an eyebrow. "Scream?"

"Yes, scream."

He sighed. Somehow, the idea didn't really come as much of a shock to him. All of this was expected; this crazy talk of hers, with bizarre ideas that didn't really make much sense. Okay, so maybe it did make a little sense. After all, it was commonly known that it _was_ always good to let out your thoughts and feelings in some sort of way. However, he wasn't quite sure if he had best go with Ichigo's idea on it. "Yeah, I'm not screaming."

"Oh, come on! It's fun! Watch!"

"No, Ichigo–"

Before he could stop her, she turned around, put her hands on the railing, stood on the tip of her toes, and screamed at the top of her lungs. After a moment, she stopped, placing a simple smile on her face, as she looked over at Ryou. "See?"

Ryou rubbed his ear. " ... Oww."

Ichigo just giggled, shrugging her shoulders. "So?"

Still rubbing his ear, not having yet recovered from how painful the scream had been, he glared at her. "That's a sissy scream."

"Oh, really?"

He smirked. "Yeah, really." Before he could continue, Ichigo leaned over the railing again, and once again, screamed as loud as she could. Ryou had to rub his ear again. "Lamer scream."

Ichigo pouted. "Then you try!"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

She just groaned, causing Ryou to smirk again. There was absolutely no way she was going to get him to scream again. The idea was just plain silly, as much as it somehow made sense. Either way, he wasn't about to embarrass himself, considering there were already some strangers watching them oddly.

"Come on, Ryou, just give it a try," she whispered, but he continued to shake his head. However, it wasn't long that she began to result to begging. "Please, please, please, please!"

He sighed, watching her plead. It was then that he saw her put on her sad puppy (or kitty, in this case) eyes in a way to try and guilt him into giving in. At first, he wasn't falling for it, and just attempted to look away and ignore her. But still, he could see her from the corner of his eyes.

Yup, she had won. "Fine, Ichigo, fine. Just ... "he trailed off, sighing again. This was so going to ruin him. He took a deep breath, before looking out over the bridge. Taking a moment to think it over, he finally leaned over and screamed loudly.

Ichigo began to giggle as he stopped. "That was awesome! What do you think?"

"That was ... insane," he replied, although he wasn't planning on admitting that it was actually somewhat of a good feeling. Still, he became embarrassed and looked away, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Oh, come on, try it again!" She suggested, patting his shoulder. "I'll do it with you. Look, I know it can be a bit embarrassing, but it's really helpful!"

He really couldn't figure out why he was doing this. But she was right. It was pretty helpful, even though there wasn't really something he was upset about. Sure, he was struggling on the idea of whether he would ever actually be with Ichigo or not, but he wasn't obviously sulking about it. "You're doing it with me."

She smiled and nodded, as they both leaned over the railing and took deep breaths. And then just as quickly as they breathed, they screamed out into the empty air.

At that moment, it was as if they had entered their own world. They kept smiles on their faces as they screamed, without a care about what everyone else was thinking then.

Ryou felt it was perfect. Well, almost perfect. It would have been if he was losing his voice then and there.

They both broke out into laughter as the screaming began to cease. Ryou tried to bite his lip to stop, but he couldn't help but find this whole scene quite funny. He held onto the railing tightly, knowing that he would probably fall over from laughing so hard if he let go.

Ichigo grabbed his shoulder, trying to speak while still laughing. "Are you alright?"

He nodded and stood up straight, as his laughing died down slightly, although he kept a large grin on his face. "Yeah, I'm ... I'm fine."

She chuckled, as he leaned down to her and kissed her swiftly. She only smiled nervously and looked away, not saying a thing about it. "So, well, I hope that made you better."

"Yeah, it, um ... it was _a little_ helpful," he replied, not fully wanting to admit that she had been right. It had been pretty helpful, making him feel pretty good. And the moment had been pretty nice, too. Just for a little while, it hadn't mattered what any feelings were or what was going on, it was just a moment of freedom and it was just about him and Ichigo.

That sort of feeling really was nice.

"So, you going to tell me who the girl is?"

He should have figured she'd ask about it. He hadn't thought he was being obvious about there being a girl he had feelings for. He was just lucky she had no idea who the girl _was_. Still, he knew she wouldn't quit asking him who it was. Then again, he wasn't bound to tell her who it was anytime soon either. "You're quite the curious cat, aren't you?" He asked, as he hopped up to sit on the railing, holding on it tightly, so he wouldn't fall backwards.

"Well, I wouldn't have to be curious if you would just tell me," she said, as she hopped on the railing as well. "There has to be _something_ going on in your love life. Haven't you even ever had a girlfriend?"

He sighed, realizing she wouldn't cease asking about this subject, so he figured he'd just have to give her something to think about. "Once," he whispered, thinking back on the memory. "Although, I guess you could barely call it a girlfriend. I mean, I told everyone she was, but we were only about nine or ten years old at the time."

She raised her eyebrows with a grin. "Ten years old with a girlfriend. Wow, Ryou."

He chuckled, nodding his head. "Yeah. Her name was Sarah. She was my childhood best friend, who I did pretty much everything with. Heck, we even made a promise to get married one day. I guess ... in some ways, you could say she was my first love. Then again, I was only ten. What did I know about love? Still, I guess it's the closest I've ever gone to the feeling."

Not entirely true. But he didn't have to mention that.

"So what happened? With Sarah, I mean? Where is she now?"

He sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "When my parents died, I left America and came here. It was the last time I saw her and well, we haven't spoken since. I ended up just keeping my focus on the Mew Project, so I wasn't really eve thinking about girls or love or anything anymore."

Also not entirely true, but it was pretty much half of the truth anyway. With the Mew Project, he _hadn't_ had much time to focus on his social life, therefore wasn't thinking about his love life either. There wasn't a girl he had met that he had become too interested in anyway. That is, until Ichigo came along, of course.

Why, out of all of the girls he had met, she had been the one he fell for, who knew? He ignored the feelings at first, anyway, but it had gotten to a point where there was just no use ignoring it anymore.

"You know, you should really give it a chance again. I mean, even if things didn't work out with you and Sarah, there must be someone out there for you. You can't just ignore love completely. It's out there, Ryou, and it's gonna come out and bite you. Besides, falling in love, it's ... it's a great feeling."

He looked over at her as she said that. Aoyama, of course. "Has there been anyone else?"

She sighed. "I've had crushes on guys when I was a lot younger, but ... Masaya's been the only one that's really caught my eye. He's the only one I've ever been in love with, you know," she trailed off, as her voice began to quiet down. He could tell how she was feeling then. It was hard, losing the one you love. Even though with him, he hadn't even been with the one he loved to begin with. Still, it was all the same; losing love, and feeling that hurt inside.

He noticed a tear fall from her cheek.

"Hey," he said, leaning over to wipe her cheek. "Don't worry about that guy, alright? It's like you said, there's someone out there for you. Aoyama isn't the last guy left for you in the world."

She attempted to laugh, trying to cheer herself up. "I know. It's just ..."

"Look, Aoyama's a real jerk, okay? And you really shouldn't have to spend your whole life chasing after some guy who just throws you off to the side like he did. You should find somebody who really loves you and would put you above everything else. Someone who'll be able to survive listening to you whine about every little thing that goes on in your life. Someone who'll compliment you on your singing even when you're completely off-key."

She laughed, as he chuckled slightly.

"Someone who'll share their cereal with you in the morning. Someone who kisses you not because it's a bet, but because they want to and because ... they can't stand spending a single day without having you around." Ichigo stared at Ryou, taking in everything he had just said. Before she could figure out what to say as a reply, he continued. "This guy could be right in front of you, Ichigo, and you don't even know it."

Ichigo looked up in front of her, and chuckled. "The old guy in the plaid jacket? Wow, Ryou, I'm insulted."

He looked, as well, and couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head. "You know what I mean."

She nodded, looking back at him. "Ryou, that's really sweet ... and cheesy. I never knew you were quite the cheese-talker."

He had to smile at that. "Not the typical guy, right?"

She smiled back. "Not the typical guy."

He loved watching her smile. He suddenly felt the urge to just kiss her yet again, and contemplated doing this. He couldn't help it. He loved kissing her. He loved just being with her. He loved her.

He just wanted to be that guy for her. He wanted to be the guy that could just wipe all of her tears and could just make her smile whenever she needed to.

He touched her cheek softly, preparing himself, before he would lean in. She didn't move or give any sign that she wasn't okay with it, so he knew it would be alright. He leaned over ...

... and an annoying cheesy ring-tone went off.

She bit her lip, and closed her eyes. "Um, I'm sorry, I have to, um ... " She didn't explain further and just hopped off the railing, reaching into her pocket for her phone.

He sighed. He wasn't sure if this had been a good thing or a bad. Of course, he hated that it ruined the moment just as he was about to kiss Ichigo. But maybe he had to learn to control himself just a bit more. Sure, they were doing a kissing bet anyway, but it wasn't such a great thing to be kissing her every five minutes either.

She pulled out her cellphone and looked at the screen to examine who the caller was. She suddenly froze, and looked up at Ryou, not saying anything at all. At first, he wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but then it hit him as to who was calling.

"Aoyama."

It was as if their own world had just been invaded.

**-End, Part VIII.**

Yup. Masaya. Yeah, I know half of you Ryou/Ichigo shippers don't like the guy, but really, did you really believe he was gone forever? It's Masaya, of course he's gonna come back and bite us all where it hurts. And besides, when Ryou and Ichigo need conflict, what better person to grab in order to create it? After all, he WAS what kept them apart in Tokyo Mew Mew anyway, so here he is to cause more drama! Whoo-hoo!

Oh, oh, and because I can be such a meanie of a person, I'm gonna post up the next chapter when I get to 200 reviews. Yup, yup. That means ... 21 reviews! Wh00! Okay, so yeah, that's more than what I ask for the usual chapter, but, yeah, I want to reach 200 reviews already since I'm so close. So, go review, my friends if you want to read some more! Bwahaha!

So, since I should leave soon before you all start wanting to stab me for bringing in your worst enemy (well, most of you, anyway. I, for one, like Masaya. Well, when he isn't killing the R/I love), I should probably get the cliff-hanging thing over with, so I can plan my big escape! WHAT the hell is up with me for dragging Masaya back in the story? WHEN will Ryou finally just tell Ichigo that she's the one he loves? WHO thinks I'm a total idiot for dragging in my own character (Sarah) into the story? WHY do I keep making those darn Kokoro references? WHERE is Carmen Sandiego hiding my cheetos? Darn, I'm hungry! HOW did she even get her hands on my cheetos in the first place! You can pretend to find all of this out in the next chapter of your all-time favorite RyouxIchigo fanfiction story, THIRTY KISSES! I need my cheetos! AHH!


	9. Dash

I hate this chapter. oO It wasn't at all how I expected it to be. I had wanted to get around to writing this chapter already, but when I got here, I wrote down the stuff I had planned for it, and what? Only 1500 words, what?! So yeah, it was a darn toughie, trying to shove in a bunch of random stuff that I didn't even plan to have in here. That's why this chapter will suck after you read it. If you were bored, there are reasons behind it.

In fact, the next two or three chapters might be a bit dull, I must say. All the big chapters start at around Chapter 14, so yeah. Or is it 12? Yeah, might be 12. Yup, it's 12. So, this chapter, along with chapters 10 and 11 are just Ryou/Ichigo bonding-ness and such. Which might _sound_ good to you Ryou/Ichigo shippers, but you'll probably get bored of it quickly.

So, as you can see, I am ranting quite much in the author's notes sections, why, because this chapter is so darn SHORT, it bugs the heck out of me! I hate short chapters. It makes me wanna pull my hair out. Yup, yup, yup. Hair. Out. NAO. Yup.

To the two people that bashed this story ... gosh, I love you, guys! XD -still laughing- Jisu, you're my favorite anti-RxI person ever! x3 (Oh, and Saica too! x3) And "anonymouse" ... haha! I'm in such a giggle fit! XD I love ya, too! And love-ness to everyone else I know. You get love too, Cherrio! Hugs to all! Wh00t! And thanks to everyone for getting me up to the 200 reviews! YOU'RE ALL AWESOME! WHOO!

ANYWAY! About this chapter, it's well, not too exciting, as I so pointed out before. I swear, I need to get Ryou and Ichi's thoughts back into the game. I think that's why these things are shorter than planned. Cause they aren't THINKING. They need to think, because no thinking leads to death. It does. I read so. Yup.

So, yes, go ahead and start reading the chapter, before you fall unconscious due to the frustration you are forming from reading these pointless notes from me, that may not really be notes, but are just pointless rants that make absolutely no sense. Oh well, I blame Carmen. That's right, I'm talking to YOU, Carmen Sandiego! I'll find ya! I WILL! ROAR! Oh, and a big thanks to ... THE BEATLES! For being my awesome background music while I banged my head on the desk as I attempted to write this chapter. Peace to John Lennon:D

**IX. DASH**

_My life reads like the classifieds.  
__Pages of what's for sale; what's on the auction block.  
__Attention bidders! It's Lot 45.  
__He's got a decent voice, he's got that crooked smile.  
__Hold on, you haven't heard the best yet.  
__He writes good storylines, he's got those honest eyes.  
__So take him home for just $9.95.  
__He'll sing the songs you like, he'll keep you warm at night.  
_-'Classifieds' by The Academy Is ...

Ichigo stared at her cellphone, remaining quite lost in her thoughts. Why had he called her? Wasn't it only a few hours ago that she had received the letter announcing their so-called "break-up"? She sighed, not really knowing what to think of any of it.

When she had answered the phone, she remembered feeling a tinge of excitement upon hearing his voice. Oh, how she loved that voice. It felt as if it had been so many months, even years, since she had heard it. But no, it had only been a few days before.

And on that day they had spoken, she could have sworn they were happy. They sounded happy. But upon getting the letter, she must have guessed that maybe _he_ wasn't happy. But if he hadn't been happy, how did she never get a hint, a sign, anything to pre-warn her of his want to break up?

Now, there he had been, calling her up, asking to talk with her. And what did she say in return? Nothing. Just silence. It took a good minute or two for her to get her voice back, and by that time, she still didn't know what to say to him. After all, what could she say?

She stepped back onto the bridge, where Ryou had waited for her as she spoke on the phone with her possibly ex-boyfriend. Upon hearing her footsteps, he turned around, taking a moment without really saying anything to her, until he finally spoke up. "So ... what happened?"

She shook her head, putting her hands in her pockets. "He wanted to talk. But, um, I said it wasn't a good time. I guess, I don't know. I just don't think I'm ready to talk to him right now. I told him to call me back tomorrow," she explained, laying her arms on the railing and resting her head on them.

Ryou just stared at her in confusion. "Wait a minute, why would you say that? I thought you _wanted_ to talk to him. Now you want to wait?"

"I thought I did. But, I mean, today's just been a whole mess after another. I just can't deal with all of this drama right now," she said, though she wasn't even sure if she was making much sense. True, she had wanted to talk to Masaya in order to clear all of this up, but she had mixed feelings right now and she really needed time to think things through. "I just think that this has been good for me, you know."

No, he didn't know. He raised an eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders to let her know that he wasn't on her track.

"Today, it's just been you and me, and I've been without Masaya. This is like a chance for me to see what it's like to just be free, to be without him. I mean, I never thought about not wanting to be with him, but this sort of lets me think about it, and lets me just see what life is like without him."

By the look on his face, you could easily tell that Ichigo wasn't the best at explaining things, considering he still wasn't exactly getting her. "Well, your wording's a little bit here and there, but I might understand the general meaning of what you're trying to say. You just want to experiment and try to be without him for a day."

"Exactly!" She exclaimed, nodding her head, relieved that she somehow made sense in her short rant. "Besides, I promised you we'd have our 'day of fun' and I can't just back out of that now to get into some Masaya drama that could be reserved for later. Plus, don't we have a bet to complete?"

Ryou nodded, but sighed. "Don't you think little Aoyama might get all upset cause you were kissed by me thirty times in a day? Not to mention that this was _immediately_ after the two of you broke up," he paused, thinking his words over. "Actually, it started even before you broke up. Hmm."

"It's just a bet," she answered immediately. "Besides, like I said, this day isn't about Masaya. This is just a day to just relax and be by myself and just enjoy a day without having a boyfriend or worrying about love and all of that stuff."

"All the while, making out with another guy," he stated with a smirk.

Ichigo turned slightly red at the comment. "Hey! This is _just_ a bet, Ryou. And we're not _making out_. We're just ... it's just tiny pecks here and there. Nothing that should be considered a big deal." She failed to mention the few deep, long kisses they have already had. She knew as well as he did that those were definitely there, but she figured that they really didn't need mentioning.

He shrugged, deciding not to further mention it either. "If you say so, Ichigo," he said, though he continued to smirk, letting her know, he obviously knew better.

She scoffed. "You know, Ryou, I hate you," she stated, though she was trying to hold back a chuckle.

He just shrugged, poking her forehead, as they once again began walking, off of the bridge. "I'll live."

She poked him back on his shoulder. "I'm sure."

"As well. You should be." Another poke on her arm.

"Of course." A poke on his arm.

"Good." A poke on her back.

"Yes." A poke on his back.

"Mhmm." A poke on her stomach.

"Yup." A poke on his stomach.

"Indeed." A poke on her cheek.

"Yuh-huh." A poke on his cheek.

"Quite." A poke on her nose.

"Definitely." A poke on his nose; with a tippy-toe for this one.

Instead of continuing the conversation further, he grabbed at her sides and began to tickle her, causing her to burst out into sudden laughter. Now he knew for sure that he had won the argument.

"Whoa, hey! That's ... not ... fair!" She tried to protest in between giggles. She attempted to fight back, but he showed no signs of backing down. "Alright, fine, fine! You win, okay?! You win!"

Still, he continued, laughing himself, until he finally decided to give her a chance to breathe, and thus let her go. However, she was still laughing even as he removed his arms from around her. He took this chance to quickly lean down and kiss her. After all, he still had a bet to win. "Looks like there's something else you're about to lose, Ichi," he commented, with the use of a nickname.

She crossed her arms, grinning. "You haven't completed the thirty yet, Ryou-chan."

"You want to start the tickling again, Ichigo?"

She bit her lip. She didn't think she had enough breath in her to go through that again. Still, she couldn't help but to continue making comments back at him. "I think I'll pass with that, Sparky."

He shook his head and chuckled. He was prepared to start tickling her again, but was interrupted by a strange young raven-haired girl appearing suddenly before them.

"Helloooo! Greetings, my friends! I am the great Mademoiselle Plumster!" shouted the Plum girl. Ryou and Ichigo took a few steps back in fear of this random, scary stranger appearing out of no where. "I am a famous and professional fortune teller and for just a yen or two, I can tell you anything, anything at all, including what awaits you in your future! Just ask the question and I'll give you a dash of Plum magic!"

Ryou blinked at the girl in confusion. "Um ... who are you?"

The Plum girl groaned, shoving what appeared to be a business card written in pen in his face. "I told you! I am Mademoiselle Plumster and for just a small price, I can tell you anything you want! So what do you want to hear? What's gonna happen with your career? Your education? Your love life? That's always the most popular category these days."

"Um, right. Look, Miss ... Plum or whoever you are, I don't think we really have the time for ..." he trailed off, already dragging Ichigo in the opposite direction.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Plum shouted, running in front of them to prevent them from moving forward. "I'm not a fake, I swear! I can really tell you absolutely anything you want! I really am psychic, yuh-huh! And I can prove it!" She pointed to Ryou. "You, the emo orphan dude with feelings of unrequited love, who just needs to take a break," she stated, before turning to Ichigo. "And you're some sort of cat-girl with some love issues and only half a brain."

Ichigo gasped. "Hey, I do _not_ have half a brain!"

"Hmm, you're right. Probably more to a fourth."

But Ryou just raised an eyebrow, seeming quite impressed, even though he figured the whole idea of psychics and fortune tellers were just plain silly. "Alright, fine, I'll go along with this. What's in the future for me then?"

Ichigo replayed the words in her head. Yeah, she had gotten most of the facts correct. Well, except for the whole thing about having only half a brain–or one-fourth or whatever–because that was definitely not true at all. But wait. "Hold on, unrequited–?"

"Don't jump so fast there, emo dude! I don't do this stuff for free, you know! That'll be 5000 yen!" Plum said, completing forget her whole "a yen or two" guarantee.

Ryou shook his head, preparing to walk again. "I don't have time for this."

Plum groaned, giving up and shrugging her shoulders. "Alright, fine! I'll do this stuff for free, alright!" She gave in, mumbling something under her breath about making a living and so on and so forth. "Alright, so you want to hear about your future, right? Well, okay then," she said, closing her eyes, going into deep thought.

Ichigo was only half-listening, still wondering about the "unrequited love" thing, as Ryou waited impatiently for Plum to continue on.

"Okay, well ... you'll be very successful in life; your career will do you wonders. You'll live in a big place, looks like a café of some sort. There'll be plenty of people living there. Oh, and it seems that you'll be married!" Ryou raised an eyebrow at this. "Hmm, red-haired girl, very spunky, although annoying." She opened her eyes. "It's the catgirl next to you, in fact."

This caught Ichigo's attention. She and Ryou both remained silent for a moment, looking at one another. Then, at the same time, they both burst into sudden laughter, causing Plum to become confused.

"Erm, what's ... so funny?"

Both could barely breathe, much less speak, but Ryou managed to cough and speak up. "You _honestly_ believe that Ichigo and I are gonna get married?"

Plum blinked, not knowing why they were finding it hard to believe. Though it wasn't _too_ much of a surprise to see their reaction. After all, most people didn't tend to believe her fortunes anyhow, whether they were true or not. "No, it's true. You and her are gonna get married in the future. And you'll have four–no, five–kids," she paused, having to think on this. "Hmm, or maybe it's six? Could be more."

That only made the idea even more funnier and insane than it was before. Ichigo continued to laugh, finding the plain idea of her and Ryou getting married just truly crazy. Kissing Ryou was one thing–she was crazier enough to be doing just that, but maybe it would have been more crazier not to, who knows–but actually _marrying_ the guy was something she'd only do if she were to suddenly start doing drugs, which that would definitely be the last thing Ichigo did. Well, the second to last thing, seeing as how marrying Ryou would be the definite final thing she'd do.

And having kids with him? Way to result to madness! And not just one or two, but there was an estimate of at least five or six?! She knew some fortune tellers were cracked, but this was really quite the prediction.

"Well, that was ... anyway, thank you very much for that information, madame. You ... have a good day, will you?" Ryou said, as he took Ichigo by the arm and walked in fast paces away from the young, strange fortune teller.

Plum still couldn't figure out why they were so shocked and surprised by her vision. It seemed like a pretty normal, typical prediction to her. She shrugged, deciding it was no point to worry too much. Too bad she didn't get paid for it, though. She would just have to find another victim.

She turned her head, spotting a young-looking lawyer dude with fuzzy brown hair, yapping away on his cell phone. She grinned, as her plan went into action. "'Scuse me! You there!"

As for Ryou and Ichigo, they were some long yards away from the scene now. They finally slowed their pace, attempting to catch a quick breath.

Ichigo continued to giggle, not being able to get that silly fortune teller out of her head. "Can you believe her? The two of us married!"

Ryou shook his head, still not believing what he had heard. "You're frustrating already. It'd be some kind of suicide to have you as my wife," he announced plainly. As usual, he had his signature smirk on, as he pinched her arm.

"Do you enjoy picking on me?" She asked, though she knew the usual pattern. It wasn't as if it'd actually make much sense if he _didn't_ make fun of her in one form or another. "Or does it just come naturally?"

He scratched his chin, pretending to be in deep thought. "Hmm, well that might be a tough question," he cleared his throat in attempts to put on his smart, lecture tone. "You see, I do find much entertainment in the torture I give you, thus making the former option true. However, it seems that whether it is by choice or not, as with the latter, it has just become a true part of me, I suppose."

"_Thus_ making them both true?" She asked, making an attempt at using his choice of vocabulary.

"I believe so."

She sat down on a bench, as he followed behind and sat down beside her. "If you say so."

He nodded. "I do say so."

Ichigo gave a quiet chuckle, and just looked up to the sky, shaking her head in disbelief. "I don't get it. It was only a few hours ago that you were the one person in the world I absolutely hated the most and now," she paused, and he tilted his head, waiting for her to continue. "Now, I guess, you aren't as bad as I thought you were."

"Is that so?"

"I think so."

It was true. Just yesterday, she really hated her employer. He annoyed her to the point where she wanted to bang her head repeatedly with a cereal bowl and then stick her head inside a water-filled fish bowl–with fish included–and just watch to see what happens. Yup, it was that bad.

But now, she didn't think she'd go to that extreme. Sure, he was still completely annoying. But after a while, it wasn't so bad having him around. She might actually be beginning to get used to the whole idea. Of course, she wasn't really _liking_ him in that way, but she did really like him as a person.

He crossed his arms, and turned his body in the seat to completely face her. "Well, this is quite a surprise to hear, Momomiya. You sure you aren't falling in love with me now?" He asked. Yup, the smirk was there. The smirk is _always_ there.

She scoffed. "Don't get so cocky now, Shirogane. I'm just saying, you're not a bad person. I'm not pouring out my heart out to you or anything. You're still annoying and you're still a jerk, but maybe you aren't _as_ bad as I thought you were. That doesn't make anything I believed about you not true. It just makes it less of a bad thing."

She knew the wording in there was all wrong and quite confusing, but she hoped he got the point anyway. She knew that he was just kidding about the 'falling in love' thing, but she made sure that he knew it was a true _fact_ that she wasn't and was not planning on falling in love with him anytime soon. Wait–she took that back. She was not falling in love with him _ever_.

No matter what, or how less of a bad guy he turned out, he was still Ryou Shirogane, her ultimate jerk of a boss. Yup, it was what he did best.

He sighed, pretending to be upset. "Alright, Ichigo, I believe you. Just make sure that _you_ know that you are and will always be the little, annoying, spunky strawberry catgirl that drives me to the point where I'm willing to cut my own arm off just so I have something to throw at you."

She laughed. "And you're the mean, jerk, boss-man, and catboy who I just love to hate."

He grinned and gave a solid nod. "Proud of it."

She rolled her eyes, in mid-smile, looking away from him for a brief moment. It was then that something quite interesting caught the corner of her. She adjusted her eyes to get a better view, and when she saw that it was what she thought it was, she suddenly formed an idea. She stood up, and turned to Ryou, taking her hand out in front of him for him to take. "Come."

He raised an eyebrow, not quite sure what this sudden gesture was. "Um, what?"

She bounced up and down, wanting for him to hurry it up. "Come on! I want to take you somewhere!"

"Seriously? I mean, we've already had the beach and the karaoke and everything. Aren't you even the slightest bit tired, woman?!"

She laughed at his tone, and shook her hand. "We made a deal for a day of fun and that is what we are having. Therefore, you have to listen to what I say and go wherever it is I want to take you."

"And why is that the rule?"

"Ryou!"

He groaned, taking her hand and standing up. "This better not something crazy again. No more swimming, singing, or anything of the bizarre kind."

"Not to worry, my friend, this requires very little movement, but still contains all of the enjoyment," she explained, as she dragged him along the street to her desired destination.

Upon seeing with where they were headed, his eyes widened. "Oh no, Ichigo ..."

She just smiled. It was time for a little dash of Ichi-magic and fun.

**-End, Part IX.**

Sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks! I hate it! ROAR! Oh well. Erm, yeah. So, in this chapter, you might have noticed TWO of my other characters shoved in for the sake of my lack of sanity. Plum, the horrible fortune teller, is my child. Yup. Well, she's my ultimate role-playing character, Arisa Shimizu, who I just happened to want having made an appearance in my story. Why, cause she's AWESOME! Wh00t! The other character is the un-named lawyer dude Plum goes to bother after Ryou and Ichigo leave. There's no name mentioned, but he's Bob Pushkaboomda. He's awesome, too.

So, anyhoo, I'm sure you hate this chapter too, even if you DO so happen to review it with "omg! so awesomeee! please write more!". It's okay. You can be nice. I like nice people. But you can be honest, too, you know. I like honesty. It makes the world a better place. :D (Or does it?)

Since I'm nice, and because I have disappointed all today, I shall provide a little hint at what you can expect for the next chapter. It's Chapter 10 (like, obviously) and is entitled "10". Yup. Just "10". I didn't choose it. Blame the 30 Kisses community. So, I guess, the title doesn't really hint much. It's a Ryou-centric chapter, which includes much peace, love, and photobooths! Okay, well, not so much peace as there is love, but there's much of the photobooths! You all know the photobooths, right? Those little tiny rooms, no bigger than the usual port-a-potties, where you snap little cute pictures of yourself or you with your friends, which can be found in malls or in the middle of the street or in such places. They're nice things, and I felt really it'd be interesting to include them in the story.

Another hint? Listen to "Photobooth" by Death Cab For Cutie. That's the intro song for the next chapter. It's a cool song, too, so I'm sure you'll like it. :D

And because I'm getting annoying with the most ultimate LONGEST AUTHOR'S NOTES SECTION EVER, I shall finally get to your favorite part of the CLIFFHANGING VOICE! WHOO!WHAT does Ichigo have planned for the two of them (well, if you read a little higher, I'm sure you SHOULD have figured it out, Sherlock)? WHEN will this day of fun–or insanity–come to an end? WHO agrees with me that this was probably the worst chapter written in the history of mankind (or at least for this story)?! WHY are my chapters suddenly all short now instead of the humongous chapters I used to do? WHERE is Carmen Sandiego and can someone tell her to stop sending writer's block aura in my direction? HOW can I start writing like a true writer again? Answer to the last? NEVER. NOOO! Err, maybe never. Maybe tomorrow. Or next week. Or next month. Or by Easter. Oh! I like Easter. WORSHIP THE BUNNIES! Until next time when the great Arisadonna brings you a GOOD chapter of THIRTY KISSES! Err, we'll see about the good part.


	10. 10

-dies of complete shock- Holy crap! Chapter 10! I must say, I am completely proud of myself right now, considering this is the first time in ancient Arisadonna history that I ever reached a tenth chapter. Actually, I must say, before this story, I've never actually gone past Chapter 5 for any story at all. So really, this is a really big accomplishment for me, and I want to thank everyone who has been reading this story up to now. Even if my writing is totally sucking right now, I'm really, really happy that there are those who are sticking with me and are still reading.

So, before I make comments about the story, I wanted to ask a little question to all my readers out there. When you all (or most of you) review this story, if you can, may you please let me in on which of the first 10 chapters of Thirty Kisses have you liked the best and why? You don't have to write a big in-depth essay on why. Just tell me which chapter you liked and whether you liked it because of the style of writing or the events that occurred or something like that. I just want to see overall which time I was doing my best and to try to get back to writing that way, cause I must say, right now, I'm just all over the place with this writing thing. Haha.

Okay, so about this chapter. In this chapter, it's mainly Ryou and Ichigo in a photo booth. Yes, how fun! -giggle fit- I attempted to write this chapter a little bit as I did with Chapter 2, because in MY opinion, I think I did the best writing in that one. Even if what was going on wasn't as exciting as other chapters, I think when it came to the style of writing, that was the best one. That chapter got almost 50 reviews alone too, so it must have been good. o-O I tried to get Ryou's thoughts back into the game, though it's not too much thinking.

This was a fun chapter, really. For inspiration, I had "Photo Booth" by Death Cab For Cutie on repeat. Mid-way though, I listened to a song called "Never Enough" cause I thought it was perfect background music for the kiss scene, but honestly, it's by an unknown artist, which totally upsets me, cause the song is just awesome. Oh, and the photos themselves were inspired by the ones in the credits of "A Lot Like Love."

So, anyway, go ahead and read the chapter, so I can shut up. Enjoy. :D

**X. 10**

_All the slander and double-speak  
__Were only foolish attempts to show you did not mean  
__Anything but the blatant proof was  
__Your lips touching mine in the photo booth.  
_-'Photo Booth' by Death Cab For Cutie

To be honest, Ryou couldn't remember ever taking a picture in a photo booth in his life. He had never really found much interest in the activity and figured there really wasn't much of a point to take pictures all by himself. And since Ryou was never really the friend-type of guy, well, there wasn't much of a chance of him entering a single photo booth ever.

Well, until now.

He allowed Ichigo to pull him along the street towards the small little room, as he really began to wonder why he had agreed to do anything she wanted. Even if it was all only for one day, he never did like having anyone be the boss of him. _Especially_ not Ichigo. After all, he was supposed to be bossing _her_ around.

"I am _not_ going in there," he protested, even though he did not make any sudden move to stop her from pushing him inside.

The photo booth was quite crowded. When Ichigo attempted to sit down, she was half in mid-air and half on top of Ryou's lap. Ryou groaned, attempting to move aside to give her room, but the shift only made him even more uncomfortable, and Ichigo still could not fit in the seat beside him.

"You just _had_ to choose a small photo booth, didn't you?" He asked, though he wasn't looking for a reply as he watched her stand up half-way, attempting to find a solution to their seating difficulty. Ryou sighed, finally giving in as he made himself comfortable in the seat, though he knew it wouldn't last long. "Just sit."

Ichigo bit her lip and again sat half on his lap, though attempted to move to the side as much as possible. "Are you sure you're alright with this?" She tried to hold back a giggle, already seeing the discomfort in his face expression.

Ryou simply rolled his eyes, looking away from her. "You _are_ pretty heavy."

She pouted, jabbing a finger on his shoulder. "Hey! That was uncalled for!"

"Was it, really?"

Actually, it wasn't. When _didn't_ Ryou have some sort of complaint and comment about Ichigo's weight? It had always been a factor since the day of their very first meeting up in a tree about a year ago. "Oh, whatever. You're gonna have to pay for this though."

Ryou squinted his eyes, slightly confused. Then he realized she wasn't talking about the comment, but about the photo booth. He groaned, before glaring at her. "This was your idea, yet you still want me to pay for it? That's a tad bit unfair, don't you think, Ichigo?"

He could tell with her nervous smile that she _didn't_ think it was unfair. Nothing was really unfair to her when things were at the expense of Ryou; why would they be? He gave yet another sigh, once again giving in, as he attempted to reach into his pocket for some change. However, with Ichigo semi-on top of him, this attempt was quite a difficult action to do.

He tried to adjust his body so that he could fit his hand in his pocket to grab the money, but in the process, accidently lifted a leg up, kicking Ichigo in the shin. "Oww!" She screamed out, jumping slightly, accidently hitting Ryou in the side of his head with her elbow. Ryou winced, wanting to lift his right hand up to rub his head, but it was stuck between the back wall and Ichigo's back.

This was _really_ uncomfortable.

"When we get out of here, I will most likely end up killing you for this," he said, finally pulling out a bit of yen from this pocket. "Darn it, Ichigo! You elbowed my head!"

"And you kicked my leg!" She shot back, holding her arms up against the walls to try and balance herself. "If you're so annoyed by this, you could try to speed it up a little, so we can finish up and get out of here. Why are you going so slow, anyway?"

It was the second time that day he wished for a gun. And this time, he really did want to shoot her. Even if her ghost came back to haunt him not long afterwards, at least she wouldn't be physically hurting him right now. She may not have been as heavy as Ryou tended to complain, but she still had him in an extremely awkward and uncomfortable position right then and there. He couldn't exactly feel his left leg at the moment, not with Ichigo's weight upon it.

He inserted the coins into the slots and waited. As he stared through the glass in front of him, Ichigo poked him gently with her elbow. "Come on, Ryou, smile!" She said to him, just as the flash went off. So much for that picture. Just as he was preparing himself for the next pose–preparing, as in contemplating whether he should just put on his normal face and risk looking stupid again or put on a smile and most likely _still_ look stupid–Ichigo leaned down and pressed her lips against his cheek.

Ryou's face color changed to a light shade of red, as the flash went off unexpectedly yet again. Ichigo just giggled, looking over at him. "Ichigo!" He wasn't sure what he was actually upset about: the fact that Ichigo kissed his cheek without notice during the picture or the fact that she had actually made him blush unexpectedly? Ryou was definitely not one to start blushing. Actually, he was beginning to realize that he wasn't one to do a lot of things, yet here Ichigo was changing all of that.

"Hey, what's the point of taking pictures if you're just gonna sit there and look boring?" She asked, nudging him lightly with her shoulder, looking at him, waiting for him to do something. Instead, he just turned his head and stared at her blankly just as another flash went off. She frowned. "That was the worst picture pose ever!"

Ah well. Ryou was never the picture-taking guy anyway. He wasn't the type to pose and put on a big smile to snap a photo. Well, not anymore anyway. In truth, Ryou hadn't taken an actual happy photo in about, hmm, possibly six or seven years now. It _had_ been a while. "Are we done yet?" he asked, wanting to get out of the tiny space already so he could feel his two legs again. Oh, the feeling of comfort, how he missed it.

"Oh, nuh-uh! One picture left! And you have to smile!" She ordered, pinching his nose. Instead of listening to her demand, he pinched her nose back. "Hey!" She nudged him with her elbow, and attempt to tickle his stomach. He wasn't ticklish there, but Ryou couldn't help but snicker at her attempts, slightly putting on a smile. Feeling as though she had accomplished what she had been trying to do, she smiled just as the final flash went off.

"Okay, so we're done, right?" He asked, relieved that he could finally be able to feel some freedom again. He watched as she waited for the pictures to develop. When she picked them up, he frowned as she shook her head. "What now, Ichigo?"

"Nope, we have to do it again. Look at you, you look so dumb in these pictures!" She said, holding them up to his face for him to see.

She was sort of right. The first image, Ichigo had come out quite pretty with her smile, but he looked pretty dumb, looking as if he didn't even know what was going on. In the second image, it did, however, manage to catch him looking dumb-struck, blushing from the kiss on the cheek she had given him. The third image was pretty humorous, because it captured Ichigo pouting and looking quite upset at him, something he quite enjoyed seeing at the time. He found the last image interesting, seeing as how they were both smiling. In fact, he actually kind of liked that one.

"They're not that bad," he said, not really wanting to take more pictures. He just wanted to get out of that booth. _Right now_.

"Nope," she stated, bringing his hopes down. "Look, you could keep that set, and we could take another one for me to keep. Because one way or another, we are going to have you take some decent pictures, mister." He didn't get why she wasn't just satisfied with that final image. Wasn't it decent enough? He didn't admit though that he kind of liked the fact that he'd get to keep the pictures. After all, he hadn't take normal pictures in some years now and he liked that these were with Ichigo.

But he wasn't planning to show her his feelings towards that and just grumbled, pulling out more change from his pocket. "This better be quick. I do not want to sit here a second longer with your big butt squishing me to death." _Big butt_? Whoa, Ryou.

"What?!" She shouted, quite surprised at his comment. "Hey, I ... I do not have a big butt!" She whined, pouting again.

He just shook his head, putting the change into the machine. "I am not having this argument, Ichigo." She continued to whine about something, though he couldn't quite catch her words clearly since she was mumbling everything she was saying. Annoying, whiney Ichigo was back. "You want me to start tickling you again?" He asked, but she wasn't quite listening as she continued to whine.

So, he tickled her. And as expected, she began laughing, not being able to hold back. The first flash went off, just as she tried to keep his arms away. "Ryou, stop!" She shouted, though it wasn't as though that could actually do much, considering he kept on. Instead, he leaned over as she continue to giggle, and kissed her cheek just as the next flash went off.

He finally let her go, and watched her as she managed to stop laughing. She looked up at him for a moment and bit her lip nervously, as Ryou just stared at her. There was another flash, but Ryou ignored it. He leaned over and kissed her mouth, pulling her closer to him.

The final flash came about a little less than a minute later, and Ichigo broke the kiss, looking away from him. None of them said anything for a long moment. Even Ryou didn't give any of his snide comments and remained quiet. Finally, Ichigo spoke up, although she didn't look back to him. "You've kissed me ten times already."

Ryou nodded. "Yup."

"That's a lot."

He nodded again. "Yup."

"You're like ... a third done."

Another nod. "Yup."

"Can you say anything besides 'yup'?" She asked, blinking repeatedly.

Ryou smirked. "Nope."

Ichigo broke into a smile, finally looking back at him. "You are the source of all evil, you know that."

"Thanks for the compliment," he replied. Every time he kissed her, things always seemed to become awkward between the two. True, it was an odd thing that Ryou was kissing her so many times in a day, but it was a bet; that was the whole point. Still, somehow, things always turned out weird afterwards, as if it was really surprising that he'd actually do such a thing, even though it was expected. Still, it was all for the sake of winning the bet. That, and his feelings for Ichigo, of course.

Ichigo watched as the developed strip came out and she grabbed it, pulling it up to her face to get a better look. She didn't frown this time–much to Ryou's relief–and bit her lip, nodding. "These are a lot better, I guess." She turned the strip for him to see.

The first image was of himself tickling Ichigo. She was in mid-laugh, attempting to get away from him, as he tickled her with a smile on his face. He blinked, not really remembering the smile, but looked down at the next picture. In this one, he was kissing Ichigo's cheek, and unlike when she had done the same to him, she didn't look confused or surprised and seemed to be giggling, most likely still from the tickling. In the third photo, they were just staring at one another, neither smiling nor frowning; just staring. And then it was down to the final photo: the kiss.

It was strange looking at a photo of himself kissing Ichigo. He had already kissed her several times, but this was the first time he actually saw what it looked like. Looking at the picture, he seemed to finally figure out why they had always become awkward afterwards.

It wasn't _just_ a casual, meaningless kiss. It was real. It was powerful. Everything Ryou felt for her was in that kiss, and just by looking at the photo, it was obvious to see what his feelings were. There was a difference between kissing someone you loved and kissing someone you didn't. And the photo showed that it was definitely the former. It made Ryou wonder, if maybe she had figured out his feelings. "Ichigo?"

She blinked, looking over at him. "Huh?"

He looked at her for a moment, lost in thought. If she _had_ known, why hadn't she said something by now? Or maybe she didn't know. Maybe Ichigo _was_ as dense as she proved to be. He sighed, shaking his head. "Nothing. It's nothing," he said, handing her back the strip. "May we get out of here now? I can't feel my legs anymore."

"Oh! Right!" Ichigo pulled back the curtain of the photo booth and stood up, stepping outside. Already, Ryou felt so amazed as the life return to his legs and he felt even better when he stepped out of the booth. He sighed in great relief, as he stretched his legs. "Feeling better?" Ichigo asked, with a giggle.

Ryou glared, crossing his arms. "I am never getting into a photo booth with you ever again. I mean it, Ichigo. Those were probably the worst fifteen minutes of my life ever." He obviously didn't mean it. There had been much worse experiences in his life and though he was really uncomfortable in there, the photo booth experience was not one of them. Still, if he ever did have to enter another photo booth, he would make sure it was twice as big as the one he had just been in.

"It wasn't all that bad," she said, though what did she know? After all, she was the one sitting comfortably on his leg, while he completely lost his ability to move. Then that made him wonder. _Was_ his leg a comfortable place to sit on? He shook the thought out of his head, realizing that that wasn't really the point at the moment. "What are you complaining about? You got to make out with a girl in a photobooth," she pointed out, causing him to blush slightly.

Ryou gave a short laugh, as he tried to hide the red from his face. It was a bit odd to hear Ichigo say something like that, but it wasn't really something to blush about. Still, it just sort of popped out of nowhere, which had caught him off guard. "I thought we weren't _making out_, Ichigo."

"We weren't," she admitted, doing that thing where she contradicted everything she said. "But it is fun to see you get all red over something so silly." She laughed.

Right, glad to see she was enjoying herself. _"_Did you know that when you start speaking, all I hear is an annoying high-pitched sound that just makes me want to shoot myself? It's like an awful _eeeee_ sound, and it just keeps ringing in my ears," he said, rubbing his ear to prove a point.

"Oh, come on, that's–"

"Wait, there it is again! It's going _eeeee_. Gosh, that's so ... so ... " he trailed off, not bothering to finish his statement, as he just began walking away. Getting Ichigo back, plus changing the conversation: success. It was Ryou's job to do the teasing, and Ichigo couldn't just go ahead and take that from him.

Ichigo followed him. "You really are the source of all evil."

"And you really should stop repeating yourself. It's worse than the high-pitched noises."

Ryou could never quite figure out why he liked picking on Ichigo so much. It wasn't as if he was like that with everybody, because he wasn't; it was only with Ichigo. Maybe he _was_ like a little boy in kindergarten with a crush, chasing her around, pushing her into the mud. Although instead of screaming and accusing him of having cooties, well, she'd whine a little and just give in if he kissed her. Really, it was a lot easier than kindergarten in that sense.

Although, of course, kindergarten boys really didn't have to worry so much about confessions as he had to right now. Then again, he wasn't planning on confessing. Not anytime soon, anyway.

It's not as if she was making it any easier for him anyway. After all, he had practically sang her a love song, something very un-Ryou-like and she still hadn't gotten it. Then there was the minor detail that he made a bet that he could kiss her thirty times in a single day. If she couldn't read between those lines, then maybe something really was wrong with her.

Then again, there was the possibility that she might have figured it out already, but hadn't said a word. Maybe she didn't care. Nah. If she knew, she would have yelled at him and maybe have thrown a few things here and there, since she absolutely enjoyed using inanimate objects to bring him pain.

"I do not make high-pitched noises!" She complained. Maybe this had been a bad idea. After all, she was getting into that whiney mode again, which really did sound high-pitched. It was a tough choice: Ichigo teasing or Ichigo whining? On a scale, they were pretty equal. But maybe the whining was the lesser of two evils. At least with that, he wasn't getting himself embarrassed.

He tried to make another point by putting a finger in each ear in order to block out her sound. "Indeed, you do, Ichigo," he muttered. He was walking ahead, but really, he had no idea where he was going. They hadn't decided on another destination, after all. Maybe if he was lucky, their "day of fun" was over right then and there.

"Oh! I know a great place to go to next!" Dammit. "It's right over that way. Follow!" Well, he couldn't exactly plan the celebration party just yet, but at least she wasn't a) teasing or b) whining. However, now she was just being c) too darn giddy, and that, at times, was a headache too. It was a wonder that with how many things about her that annoyed him, how he still managed to be so crazy about her.

Maybe psychiatric help was the answer.

He crossed his arms, so she wouldn't grab one to drag, which would end up cutting off his circulation since she had the tendency to grab on tightly. "Don't you ever just get tired? How the heck do you let out so much energy in one day that should take you about a month to use up?"

"What about you? How do you live life not being energetic enough? You're like a robot." Robot. Hmm, what a nice similie. "The only time you use any energy at all is to pick on me, and even then, it doesn't seem like it takes much out of you."

"So, you're saying I should be like you?"

Ichigo thought about that for a moment. "Hey! That's a good idea!" Erm, what? "We should try that and see how it works out. You can try being like me, and I can try being like you."

Ryou already had an answer, but he just needed a moment to laugh in his head about the silliness of her idea. "You're on a row today, Einstein. These things you come up with are just so remarkable," he noted, sarcastically.

"Hey! It's an awesome idea! Watch." She cleared her throat. "Yo, Ichi, you're a nonsensical, imbecilic, lethargic dunce."

He snickered. "I do not sound like that. Although you got that dunce part down. Where'd you learn all of those big words, Ichigo? Finally using that thing in your head which we like to call a mind?"

"You're a jerk."

"And how many times have you said it? You know, being you shouldn't be so hard. I just have to repeat everything I say, repeat everything I say."

"Hey!"

He coughed. "Hey!" He shouted back, in a higher-pitched voice. This wasn't so bad. After all, he was running out of ways to annoy her, since he's used pretty much every idea that's come to mind. Now he could just mimic her annoying habits to throw them back at her. It didn't seem too hard either.

Yup. Time to be an idiot.

**-End, Part X.**

Another chapter, another dollar. :D If only that were true; I could use the money. Anyway! I've managed to complete one third of Thirty Kisses, and I am darn proud! WHOO! Again, thanks to everyone who's been reading up until now. I'm actually glad I got this far before it became a year since the posting of this story. Hopefully, I can finish the entire story before the end of 2007, too. That'd be an even bigger accomplishment, eh?

So what are your opinions on this chapter? I have to say, it's a lot better than the past chapter. I'm glad you all liked chapter 9, even if I wasn't feeling too great about it, and hopefully, you all liked this one as well. I think you might, considering you all actually liked the crappy chapter (or you were all just being nice, who knows?). Also, don't ask me what is up with this whole Ryou-and-Ichi-acting-like-each-other thing. Yeah, I have no idea. I needed an extra thousand words to finish this chapter, and that's where it ended up. So, yeah. o-O

Like I said before, I had "Photo Booth" on repeat while I wrote this chapter. And because it took so darn long to write, I must have heard that thing 60+ times already. No worries, though. I still love Death Cab very much. :D The photo booth idea didn't turn out so bad. Let me know what you thought about it. No hints for upcoming chapters this time around though. Not cause I'm mean. Cause I don't really have much of an idea just yet. :O No worries. I'll think of something! Bwahahaha!

CLIFF-HANGING TIME! BOO-YAH! Hey, maybe THIS was actually the longest author's notes thinger ever. Hmm. Anyway ... WHAT was I thinking when I wrote that junk about Ryou and Ichigo acting like one another? WHEN will I get some good ideas running through my mind again? WHO loves taking pictures in photo booths? (Is it fun? I've never been in one before. GASP!) WHY am I using Dr. Cox from the television show, Scrubs, as my new inspiration for Ryou's lines? WHERE is my mommy and the cupcakes?! Erm ... I mean ... WHERE is Carmen Sandiego? I should try buying some of her computer games. They seem like fun. :D ANYHOO! Find out in the next chapter of Thirty Kisses!

... Fear the writer's block. o-O


	11. Gardenia

Yeees! Looketh this, I have completed yet another chapter, which means 19 more to go. Just watch, when I get to Chapter 15, I'll be halfway done. So I'll be nice and throw a big party for everybody, okay!? Yup, wouldn't that be awesome? I'll have animal cracker goody bags for you all to snack on. And you'll love me forever. Yes, you will. :D

So, anyhoo! Well, according to last chapter's poll, it seems that my best work so far would be Chapter 4. Although Chapter 10 was really close up, which really doesn't help me as to whether I did better at the beginning or more towards the present. Oh well. Either way, I'll just have to face my instincts, write the best I can, and I hope I do not fail you all. Also, here's an update at the story's stats: 90 favorites, 83 alerts, and 244 reviews. Isn't that so pretty?

As for this chapter, well ... meh. This is another one I wasn't so proud of, but really that's cause I wrote this chapter without knowing what the heck I was doing. I didn't have any real plans for this one, so I just wrote whatever came to mind, so if it's a bit messy, please excuse me for that. I still hope you enjoy it though. :)

**XI. GARDENIA**

_Can you see the young and pretty, confident as cops  
__Blooming, laughing in the shops, till the sun turns black  
__Time goes slowly when you're only waiting, till the sun turns black  
__Can you see the wise man simply living, loving quietly  
__Every breath he takes eternity, till the sun turns black  
_-'Till The Sun Turns Black' by Ray Lamontagne

"Hi, I'm macho-man Ryou. I like to be a big old meanie and pick on innocent little girls. I also like starting meaningless bets to make out with people cause I can't get myself a girlfriend! Oh, and I think I'm way too cool for people although I really am not. But that doesn't stop me from trying to be!"

Ryou sweatdropped. "How is that being me? I do not act like that, Ichigo," he noted to her, standing aside, arms crossed.

Ichigo knew Ryou obviously didn't talk like that, but she was still having fun doing it. "What's that you say? I'm trying to listen to you, but all I hear is this annoyed low-pitched sound. It sort of sounds like a honking or something like _haaaawck_ or something."

"Ichigo–"

"Oh, there's the sound again!" She said, with a smile. She was enjoying the upset expression on his face. She knew he hated it when she was getting to him, instead of it being the other way around. Then again, that wasn't really fair considering there was no reason why she should be the only one getting the torture. "Hey! You're supposed to be acting like me!"

Ryou just walked along the sidewalk, ignoring her.

"You're so cheap," she muttered. It was then that a shiny little lightbulb formed above her head. "How about we make a bet to see who can stand being the other the longest?"

"I'm currently trying to get out of the last bet I started," he said, sighing. He closed his eyes for a moment, seeming to be lost in his thoughts. When he reopened them, he looked over at Ichigo. "Hey let's have our little day of fun! Let's go!"

Ichigo burst into giggles, coughing to return to normal. "That is such a stupid idea," she muttered, trying to place a glare on her face. Though considering the hilarity of the situation, it was quite difficult to keep a straight face.

"No, you're stupid," Ryou replied, though his expression didn't quite match his squeaky-sounding tone. He still had his casual look along with his arms crossed, which exactly scream out his excitement in Ichigo's little idea. It was this that made Ichigo wonder if Ryou ever even had any fun at all. How did the guy live like this?

She still couldn't get why Ryou had to be all tough all the time. Couldn't he just put on a smile and admit it when he was happy when the time came? Why pretend that everyone pissed him off and that he didn't give a damn about anything? Maybe he just needed to get out more and learn to appreciate the goodness of the world. Hmm. Thank goodness she was here to rescue him from damnation.

"You make the worst me ever," she stated flatly. "We'll need something to spice this up a bit," she looked around the area, trying to form another idea. However, this wasn't exactly something Ryou should have been ecstatic about. After all, the ideas that formed in Ichigo's head weren't always the wisest things. "That's it! Come on!"

Ryou had no choice but to follow her, as she dragged him by the arm towards what seemed to be a perfume stand. "Um, Ichigo? What exactly are we doing?" He asked, just as Ichigo sprayed something out of a bottle in his direction. "Hey! You trying to blind me, strawberry!?"

She giggled. "Well, if you're gonna be me, you have to smell like me," she said, holding up the bottle. "See? Gardenia. Now you smell like pretty flowers."

Ryou coughed, examining the bottle. "Oh, great. Now you have me smelling like a girl," he shook his head, wondering what other surprises Ichigo had for him. "Like this is the best day _ever_!" He exclaimed, once again, bringing out the high-pitched voice.

"I know! Isn't it!?" Ichigo replied, still giggling. Whether she had sensed the sarcasm from him or not wasn't exactly clear. "Maybe we should dye your hair too. Then we can go shopping and buy you a skirt!"

"Oh, god, no," Ryou began walking away from her, hoping to escape her irritable insanity. "I am not going to continue putting up with this. The only thing that's come out of today is the fact that you're nothing but a mad woman. I'm going back to the café."

Ichigo followed behind him. "Aww, Ryou, wait! Alright, I know I may be crazy, but you just need to do more with your life, you know. And we're not going back to the café yet. You spend way too much time locked up in there and it's good for you to just walk outside and take a few deep breaths."

"Right. All I heard there was "I know I may be crazy" and then white noise," he replied, shoving his hands in his pocket, as he walked faster, though she ran a few steps here and there, so that she could keep caught up with him. They ended up walking into a small park, though he did not stop, probably hoping she'd just end up tripping and falling or that something would just fall out of the sky and land on her.

"You know something? I actually think I'm getting a bit better with this whole translating-Ryou thing," she said, stepping in front of him to prevent him from continuing to walk forward.

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "Translating-Ryou thing?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "It's like whatever you say just ends up having a double meaning to it. You say one thing, but mean another. And it's all part of this little act of yours to pretend like you don't give a damn about anything, but you actually do. Then you just set up these double standards where you can just step all over me and say what you want, but then you get all pissed off if I just say so much as one word that could offend you."

He didn't say anything and just stared away from her. Still, she knew she was speaking the truth and nothing he could say could change that.

"You pretend you're not listening to me, but you hear every word I say; you just don't want to admit that I know what I'm talking about. You say you think this day of fun thing is stupid, but in truth, if you did think that, you wouldn't have agreed to it in the first place. And you told me you don't need friends, but in fact, you probably just want someone to spend some time with."

Ryou signed, and finally opened his mouth to speak. "... What are you, my psychiatrist? You really should quit trying to talk all wisely and all."

Ichigo crossed her arms, watching him as he began to walk again. "Which means, "Wow, Ichigo, you really do understand me"."

After spending so much time with the guy, it wouldn't be long when eventually she'd get used to his doublespeak. Still, even now, his words were still occasionally quite the thinker for her. She wondered why he worked so hard to be so complicated. Couldn't he just say what he meant when he meant it and make lives easier for all of those who spoke with him?

"No, it means to quit with the smart talk, and let me go home," he muttered, stepping through the grass. "You could really do something more useful with your time. Or do what you little girls do for fun. Go party, have a sleepover, paint your nails, I don't care. Just don't–" He was interrupted, when he suddenly knocked his foot into a hard, solid object, causing him to trip over into the ground.

Just as Ichigo was about to say something, water splashed into her face as the sprinkles in the ground turned on. "Oh, well, that's really wise, smart guy," she said, attempting to block the water from hitting her face further. She hopped over in front of him and kneeled down. "Are you alright?"

Ryou lifted his head from the ground. His eyes were still closed, as he attempted to spit out bits of grass from his mouth. "You're just dying to burst out laughing at this, aren't you?"

Well, that was true. She bit her lip, though, knowing this was probably embarrassing for him. And though she should have been taking advantage of this moment to make fun of him, she decided against it, as she wiped a bit of dirt from his face. "Come on, I'll help you up," she said, taking his arm.

Who knew why she chose not to make fun of him? After all, if it was her, Ryou would probably just put on a smirk, point and laugh at her, and then just casually walk away like his "cool", not-caring self.

He sighed, attempting to get up, but with the dirt now wet, the ground was slippery, thus causing him to fall down once again, this time, bringing Ichigo down with him.

"Oww!" Ichigo shouted, as her back landed hard on the wet grass. Instead of whining as she usually did when things went wrong, she began to laugh, as the water from the sprinkles splashed onto them. "Well, you can look at this way, at least you don't have to worry about smelling like a girl anymore."

"Right, because stinking of wet dirt is a lot better," he replied, but chuckled slightly this time. Although the dirt was sticky and mushed and the water was splashing everywhere, neither of them made a move to get up. As Ryou was about to say something, Ichigo had leaned over and kissed him lightly, causing him to blink repeatedly. "You just kissed me."

She nodded, laying back down on the ground. "I just kissed you. I'm supposed to be you, remember? And you're quite the kissing maniac, you know that."

"I thought we gave up on this whole switching thing. After all, there is no way in hell that I am going to continue waltzing around giggling and speaking only in squeaks like you. It's irritating and quite tiring, actually. Plus, you wanted to stick me in a skirt, and that is definitely not going to happen, Ichigo."

She shrugged, before twitching in disgust. "Eww, it feels like I just kissed mud. Yucky!"

Ryou laughed at that, "That's entirely your fault. I hadn't in any way forced you to kiss me. Besides, you're don't exactly taste any better either. That was probably the worst kiss I've ever experienced. Makes me never want to kiss you again."

"Hey!" She complained, but she was still struggling to stop from giggling. "Oh, good, that way, I can win this bet and you'll have to start paying me. Your choice, really," she said, knowing that he would end up kissing her, despite what he said. She said nothing to him about what she had thought about it. Truthfully, if he did stop, she'd actually be kind of disappointed. "Is it weird that I'm actually pretty comfortable right now?"

Ryou put his hands behind his head, staring up to the sky. "Well, we're in a park, laying on the mushy, wet dirt, getting soaked by the sprinklers. I would say that it's pretty weird," he admitted, nodding his head. "Although, I guess you're right. This doesn't feel so bad, actually."

It really wasn't so bad. Despite the mess that was occurring at the moment, it actually felt pretty relaxing to just lay down there without worrying too much about everything else that was going on. Ichigo liked this feeling to just take a chance to breathe, and not to be concerned about what everyone else was thinking.

This was different than when she was with Masaya. Whenever they were on a date or something, she would just end up spending most of it, worrying about making a mistake or whether she wasn't looking pretty or saying the wrong thing or doing something that would make him not like her anymore. Here, however, she felt so comfortable, just sitting there next to Ryou, covered in mud and getting soaked. It made absolutely no sense, but she didn't mind it so much.

She laughed in her head. This had in no way meant a thing. She still wasn't convinced that she was sprouting feelings for Ryou in any way. Sure, she was comfortable being around him, and didn't end up worrying about every little thing, but he was still ... well, he was Ryou. And that was reason enough to find this whole situation silly. She still loved Masaya, despite the fact that he had broken up with her, and that wasn't going to change. She'd fix things with him tomorrow, and everything would just go back to the way they were.

Then again, if she was so concerned with fixing things with Masaya, why hadn't she agreed to talk with him on the phone? Sure, she had wanted to just relax and see how things were with him. But if she loved him, why would she even want to see what life would be like without him? She should have known the answer to that already; she'd be completely broken and miserable. Yet, if that were the case, why wasn't she miserable right now?

She sighed. She was over-thinking again. "You're doing that thing again," she heard Ryou say.

She turned to him, confused. "Huh? What thing?"

"That thing where you drift off and start talking to yourself in your head," he stated. That was just silly. She did _not_ talk to herself in her head. And that was _not_ what she was doing now. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy. You know it's true. You're doing it right now." She was about to comment, but he continued, "No need to cover it up. You may have me figured out, but I have you figured out just the same."

She blinked. He was admitting that she had been right. It was the perfect time to start posing in triumph, but she decided to just stay still and not flaunt it. "I don't ... I don't do it all the time, alright?" She figured she could admit it as well, but not all the way either.

"If you say so, Ichigo," Ryou sighed, just as Ichigo picked one of the flowers from the grass. He peeked at it briefly, before looking back up at the sky. "That's a ... syringa reticulata," Ichigo blinked at that, making him chuckle slightly. "It's Japanese tree lilac."

Ichigo did not cease blinking. "And since when are you such an expert in the flower department? Sounds kind of girly of you, don't you think, Ryou?"

He sighed again, closing his eyes. "My mother loved flowers, that's all. She worked in a flower shop, she was always working in the garden, and well, it was her most favorite thing. So I guess I just ended up picking up a few things, and I learned a bit about them from that."

She smiled. "She must have been wonderful."

He nodded. "She was," he replied, reopening his eyes to look back up the sky.

Ichigo looked back to the flower in silence for moment before she spoke up again, "Do you know the meanings?" She asked, looking back over to him.

That wasn't exactly Ryou's place of expertise, but he did know a few things here and there, so he figured he could tell her something here and there. He looked back over to her, taking a deep breath, "Lilacs are sort of like roses where they represent love and whatnot, only with lilacs, the love isn't just primarily based on passion and that deep romance. It's more calm, sweet, and real," he paused, thinking about it further. "With lilacs, it's about everlasting love. It's basically saying, "Even if the Earth would stop turning, I would never stop loving you"."

She stared at Ryou, not quite sure of what to say to him, when suddenly, she began to giggle. "You know, Ryou, you could really pass for a girl. Grow your hair long, put on a skirt, and you're good to go."

Ryou just looked at her. "Is that so?" She nodded in response, as he put his hand to ground, and then touched her cheek, leaving a bit of mud on her face.

"Eww, that's gross!" She shouted, laughing, as she attempted to wipe it off.

"Touché," he muttered, standing up from the ground, immediately going into attempt to wipe off the dirt from his clothes. Too bad he chose to wear white pants. Poor guy. "So you gonna stay down there all day or are you gonna give up your dignity and asked me to help you up?"

She sighed, holding her hand up in the air. This caused him to laugh, but he took it into his own and pulled her up on her feet. He dirtied his white pants, but she had a skirt on. Now her skin was all icky and muddy, which was probably worse than the pants.

Still, it was strange to believe it, but this whole situation didn't seem so bad. Normally, she'd be crawling with utter embarrassment and would probably hide out in her room for days before she would dare to show her face again. After all, she was a complete mess. She had been a mess, plenty of times before, but she was a walking piece of filth this time around, and she had to admit, she smelled pretty awful now. Mud had the tendency to do that to a person.

But she wasn't actually feeling too awful about this. Somehow, with Ryou, he had made this whole thing fun, which was a strange thought, considering Ryou was the complete opposite of fun. Then again, he was a guy full of surprises. Whenever she made a judgment about him in her mind, he'd go right out there and prove her wrong. Even if he denied certain things and pretended not to care, Ryou definitely wasn't a bad guy.

She was actually beginning to like the idea of having him as a friend.

"So, I don't know about you, but I am definitely getting back to the café this time. There is no way that I am going to stay out here, looking like this. I am going to get back and take the warmest shower I possibly can. I'll probably never step near a sprinkler system ever again, either."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Take a shower, Ryou. You smell pretty bad."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? At least I have perfume on, so there's some decent smell. As for you, you smell completely disgusting," he said, even though the perfume comment wasn't something that would normally help his "cool-ness". Still, he chuckled as he said it.

"Actually, Mr. Shirogane," she began, attempting to go into scientific mode. "The mixture of the perfume and the mud and dirt probably just makes the smell ten times worse for you. Your best bet would be to hurry home right now before people begin to fear you."

He sighed, which showed that he knew she was right. "I would have been back at the café right now, if you hadn't been in your little rant fest before about the perfume and the tough guy speech and all," he said, as he shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking in the direction of the café.

Then again, it wasn't entirely her fault. He went along with her switching places idea and he was the one who stood still to listen to her ranting. So basically, they both got themselves into this. But really, it wasn't so bad. After all, she was standing in the middle of Tokyo, drenched in mud from head to toe, smelling like ... who knew what, and she still managed to feel good about herself. Talk about something weird.

"You gonna be okay, walking around, looking like that?" She asked, with a grin.

Ryou groaned, shrugging his shoulder. "I'll live, I guess."

"You've been having fun today, haven't you?"

He stayed quiet for a long minute. " ... meh."

She giggled. She took that as a "yes" in Ryou speak.

**-End, Part XI.**

Haha, that was just so awesome. Looking back, I think I did ended up actually liking this chapter. :D Truth be told, it didn't turn out so bad, considering I started writing it with a blank mind and writer's block. Then again, I did beat up on people to help me come up with ideas for it, so yeah, couldn't have done it without them. :3

So, as for the flower knowledge. Me? Yeah, I know nothing, zip, zero, nada about flowers. So I just went wikipedia crazy and surfed through a bunch of websites to research names of flowers in Japan and the meaning of flowers and whatnot. Must admit, though, it's all kind of interesting. But yeah, I would never ever be able to memorize any of it, so it'd be a complete waste of time to try to learn all of that. For me, at least. If you like flowers, it's quite fun, so go all for it:D

Next chapter? Err, it's called "In a Good Mood", so just try to make your guesses from that, if you want. No other hints for you all though. Why? Cause I'm in meanie mode, that's why! Bwaha! Err, but if you be nice little people and review quick, I'll be a dear and give it to you quickly. So hurry, hurry, and review away, my loves!

So now then, here is everyone's favorite part of every chapter! The cliff-hanging questionnaire! Yay! So then! WHAT are people going to think about the stinky couple walking down the streets of Tokyo? WHEN will some real-time drama start for this darn story? WHO thinks sprinklers are darn fun and just loves hopping around in them despite the risks of tripping into the mud and getting all yucky? WHY was Ichigo such a big ol' meanie in this chapter (ooh, maybe Ryou's rubbing off on her)? WHERE is dear old Carmen Sandiego (maybe she's at the end of the rainbow!)? And HOW in the world did I manage to write an entire chapter without having a clue what I was doing when I started it? Because I'm cool like that, that's why:D So yeah, just ask these pointless and useless questions in your head over and over again, until I can provide you with chapter 12 of THIRTY KISSES!


	12. In A Good Mood

It's that time of year! It's update time! Yippee! So, I apologize for my several month hiatus. Honestly, I hadn't intended for that to happen, but my mind got sidetracked from the story with school and all, but! No worries! It is summer now, and I have plenty of time to write! Of course, time isn't everything, and I have to just stop being lazy. Not to mention, I have to get around to building my fortress and developing my anti-writer's block army. Want to sign up? Let me know! D

New Story Stats: 95 favs, 93 alerts, and 292 reviews. How precious is that! I'm 8 reviews away from my entire story goal, it's amazing! Especially considering that I'm not even halfway through the story yet. It fascinates me that so many people enjoy this story, yet I keep getting lazy and start slacking off. Gosh. And 17000+ hits. Ah, such love.

For this chapter, I present "In a Good Mood", which comes from Ryou's point of view. Simple explanation? Um. Ryou's in a good mood in this chapter. Well, later on in the chapter anyway. Yup, that's about all there is to say. That there is. So, yeah.

**XII. IN A GOOD MOOD**

_Happy endings, just what did you do, if you're a dream then come true  
__Stop pretending that what you mean isn't what you say  
__Hopeful dreaming of times before the pain, wishing it was still the same  
__Loving, leaving, round and round and round we go again  
_-'Happy Endings' by The All-American Rejects

"Gosh, I've never been sooo embarrassed in my life! I mean, I know I've had my moments here and there, but that was–! Wow! Did you see everybody? Pointing, whispering, laughing. Really, sooo humiliating!"

Ichigo hopped through the café doors shaking her entire body, still in disgust by the dirt and mud that clung to her body. Ryou just followed behind, sighing as she spoke, feeling even more humiliated than she. After all, he was Ryou Shirogane and people knew who he was. This little incident was not at all good for his reputation.

"For once, I agree with you, Ichigo," he replied, quite shocked that the two shared equal thoughts at the moment, though it shouldn't have been too surprising considering no one would be fond to be in the conditions they were currently in. "Since we're here, we might as well finally get out of these clothes," he said, walking up the steps to the second floor.

Following behind him, Ichigo quickly shouted, "I claim the shower first!"

"Eh?" Ryou turned around, just as Ichigo rushed past him towards the bathroom. "Hey! Wait! It's my shower! I have rights to it first, Ichigo!" He shouted back, chasing her.

When she reached the door, she halted to a stop, blocking its entrance. "Nuh-uh, Ryou, I called it first. Besides, I'm a lady who is in desperate need of a shower after being exposed to stinky wet mud, and you should be a gentleman and allow me to go first," she said, pouting as she formed a sad face to try to lure him into agreeing.

Despite the fact that he wasn't being taken in by her expression, he decided to just let her go first. "Go ahead," he answered, not arguing with her. However, Ichigo wasn't going to just leave it at that. She blinked repeatedly, glancing at him oddly.

He turned away from her, as she spoke, "What–no fighting? No, 'shut up, Ichigo, and move out of the way'? None of that?" He said nothing, shrugging his shoulder. "Plus you agreed with me just a minute ago. Something's gotten into you," she said, tilting her head in confusion.

He turned back at her and smirked. "Don't let it bug you, Ichigo. Go shower," he said, pointing behind her, still keeping his directive comments with him. With that, he unzipped his vest and threw it on a chair, causing Ichigo's eyes to bug out.

"Whoa! Okay, you are sooo out of character right now! What in the name of all that is sane in Tokyo are you doing?!" She brought her hands to her face in order to cover the stripping Ryou.

He removed his shoes as he rolled his eyes. "Relax, I'm not gonna get naked or anything. It's just my clothes smell awful, so I'm taking it down to the laundry bin. Gosh, how immature can you get?"

She had seen him shirtless so many times, he still couldn't understand why it freaked her out so much. Thinking about it made him twitch as he remembered the abuse he witnessed for it earlier this morning. What a horrifying experience that was. He really didn't like freaked out Ichigo so much. It was worse than giddy Ichigo. As if that wasn't bad enough.

She said nothing, still covering her eyes.

Ryou sighed in annoyance, stepping over to her and remove her hands from her face. "Relax, woman! Alright?" He went ahead and grabbed his shirt from the chair, along with his shoes and socks, beginning to make his way downstairs.

"Oh, wait!"

He tilted his head around to look at her. "Hmm?"

"Um ... um ... I don't have any clothes here."

Oh boy. "You have your café uniform downstairs, don't you?"

"Yeah, but ... I'm not gonna wear that thing all day when I'm not even working!"

What was she complaining about? They were just clothes. Why did women have to be so picky about every little thing that existed in the world? This was one of the main reasons why he preferred the life of solitude. Although, he didn't prefer it entirely, of course, but at least it kept him away from the constant annoyance of the female kind.

"Um," he went to thinking, not knowing what to do with her. "I guess ... I may have something for you to wear," he said, putting down his dirty clothes back on the chair, as he walked over to the drawers to see what he could possibly come up with.

She peeked over his shoulder to see what he was up to. "Got any girl clothes in there?"

"No," he answered quickly, rolling his eyes.

"Will there be anything there that fits me?"

"Quit with the questions."

"Just asking."

"Yeah, well, it gets annoying, alright, Pinocchio?" He stood up handing her a set of clothes. "You could wear this. It's not much, but it's the best I got for now, okay?"

She took the clothes and examined. "Sweat pants and a black t-shirt? You sure this'll fit me?"

"I'm a skinny guy, they'll fit. The pants might be a little long though, but I'm sure it won't be much of a problem."

"Alright," she replied, sighing. "Thanks, Ryou."

He nodded. "Don't mention it," he replied, once again grabbing his dirty clothes, preparing to walk out the door of his room.

"Oh, Ryou?"

"Yes, Ichigo?" He said, turning around in a slight annoyance.

He watched her bite her lip and look away from him nervously. "Well, you see, there's just this small thing and, um ..."

"What small thing?"

"Well, it's just sort of ... um, well, I-I-I guess it's not that big of a deal, but I mean ..."

"What, Ichigo?"

She gulped. "Um ... underwear. I have, um, no other pairs."

Ryou's face turned red at that, as he scratched the back of his neck, looking away from her. "Oh. Right." Well, that was a toughie. He certainly had no girls' underwear stashed away in his drawers. Thankfully, of course. Although in this situation, it did create somewhat of a problem.

Well, there was only one current solution for it, so he went along with it. Walking over to his drawers once more, he pulled out one of his boxers, this one being a reddish plaid, and sighed, as he handed it to her.

She blushed. "Um, seriously?"

"If you don't want it–"

"No, no, I can deal," she answered, taking it from him. "Um, thanks."

"Yeah," he replied. "If you need anything else, I'll, uh, be downstairs." She gave him a nod, and he turned away, walking out the door, finally being able to go ahead and do some laundry.

He shoved his clothes into the washing machine, pouring in the liquid, before setting on the timer. As he closed the lid, he hopped onto the drying machine right beside, sitting down as he rubbed his eyes, completely exhausted despite it being barely afternoon.

His mind began to trace back onto the events of the day, causing him to chuckle slightly at the amount of insanity he had witnessed. The experiences with Ichigo were beyond anything he could have ever imagined, and he had to admit in his mind, that he had indeed had fun so far.

But what of their relationship? Now that Masaya was out of the picture, what was to become of them? Perhaps Ichigo would fall for him as he fell for her. Or maybe she just won't ever see him the same way. Either way, he wanted to avoid getting his hopes up at all costs. No matter what the outcome, if he didn't hope too much of a good thing happening, then he wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt.

Still, he couldn't help but grin.

Being with her today had made his life so much brighter. In just a few hours, she had him smiling and feeling better than he had ever felt in years. It wasn't something just anyone could, it was something she had managed to do without even trying. She was the sole person in his life at this moment who could just make everything seem easier, make everything seem possible with just a smile.

How could he not wish to have that in his life? How could he not wish to be with the person who could do that to him effortlessly? He did. And despite his attempts to wish too much, he hoped for it.

The thoughts of him continued to make him grin.

He continued to think through his thoughts, wondering of the upcoming events of the day. Perhaps it was time for him to tell her his feelings. There was no Masaya around anymore, so it wouldn't be too much of a problem. He had kept it inside of him for so long, it truly was time for her to know the truth.

Or was it too soon?

No. It couldn't be too soon. He's loved her for as long as he could remember, there was nothing too soon about it. It just had to pick the right moment. But it would be today. Today would be absolutely perfect indeed.

Maybe the day would lead to a happy ending.

His mind set back to reality as he heard footsteps enter into the laundry room. He turned around to see Ichigo standing there, dressed in his own clothes. Just as he predicted, they fit alright, though slightly big on her, as well as the pants being a bit long. But it didn't look too uncomfortable, so all seemed well.

"They fit okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "They're fine. Thanks again, Ryou."

"You keep thanking me. You don't need to so much. It's not a big deal."

"I know, but ..." she trailed off, looking away from him.

He stared at her, wondering when things began to seem so awkward between the two of them. It wasn't normal, not for them, anyhow. Where's was all the whining and arguing they usually did? It was much too weird that it wasn't happening.

But with his stomach now growling, it wasn't particularly the best moment to be thinking about it, for he really needed to get some food into his system. He stepped over to her, and took her arm lightly, leading her in the direction of the kitchen. "Come on, I'll make you some lunch!"

She blinked repeatedly as she was lead away from the laundry room. "Um, alright."

Stepping into the kitchen, Ryou led Ichigo in front of a stool. "Sit," he directed and she did just that, as he went looking through the cabinets.

Ichigo chuckled. "What exactly are you planning on doing?" She asked, watching him. She watched him pulled out a bag of bread, just before he went over to the fridge and grabbed two jars: one peanut butter, one jelly. "Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?"

"What? These are the best there is," he said, placing the items on the table. Taking four slices of bread, he took a knife and began spreading the peanut butter onto the bread. "When hungry, there's nothing better to eat than good ol' peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."

She giggled, shaking her head. "Gosh, you're so weird, Ryou."

"Not weirder than you, Ichigo," he said to her with a grin.

She blinked, watching him. "With the way you're acting, I highly doubt it. You seem to be in a good mood, what happened while I was taking a shower?"

"Nothing happened. And what, do you prefer it that I was pissed off and yelling at you?" He asked, giving her a look, as he spread the last bit of jelly on the bread.

She scratched the side of her face in thought, thinking deeper into this. "Well, as great as the moments are when you're in a rage and reminding how much of a stupid cat I am, I think I can handle you being all giddy for a while."

He put the bread slices together, cutting them in half through the middle. "I do not get into that much of a rage. Besides, if you were in my place, you'd see yourself and you'd understand the reason for my frustrations. I still don't understand how I've been able to stand you for so long."

"Hey! What about you? You're even more difficult with your annoying broody ways. It can really frustrate a person, you know."

He took the two halves of a sandwich and placed them in front of her. "I may be too broody, but you are much too cheery," he said, pointing down to the sandwich. "Eat."

She giggled, holding one half to her face to examine it.

He watched her, raising an eyebrow. "What the heck are you investigating? It's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's all store bought, I didn't make it. You don't need to fear for your life," he stated. "And even if I did, I'm not that bad at making homemade food."

"I'm not investigating. I'm just ... taking a moment. It's been a while since I've had one of these."

He rolled his eyes. "Just eat it, Ichigo."

She sighed, finally taking a bite, as she closed her eyes and study its taste. Ryou just watched her, annoyed that she was taking so long just to eat a single bite. Finally, she opened her eyes and swallowed. "It's good."

"Yes, I knew that. Do you always try foods this slow? Don't you usually shove your face whenever you see a cake or a muffin or something?"

"I do not _shove _my face. I just have a strong liking for desserts."

He nodded, biting into his own sandwich. "Explains why you're heavy."

She gasped, dropping her sandwich. "Hey! That's not fair! I am _not_ fat!" She complained, pouting.

Her expression was enough to cause him to chuckle, as he swallowed his bite. "It is so simple to get you all steamed up, you know that?" He stated, leaning across the counter, near her.

Biting her lip, she grinned, crossing her arms, as she moved closer to him as well. "And you are nothing but a big ol' meanie, Ryou. You know _that?"_

Watching her grin so widely, he couldn't help but smile at her. "You're such an idiot, Ichigo," he said, stepping into a pause, before he moved his face up closely to hers and softly kissed her. "You really are."

"And you," she began, still grinning, "absolutely love kissing me."

"I do it for the bet."

"You do it because you want to."

He raised an eyebrow at that. Perhaps she had him figured out somewhat after all. That _was_,in fact, his real reason and it seemed as though she knew that now. Of course, him being Ryou, he was not at all planning to let her know she knew that. "If it was truly because I wanted to, I would have done it a long time ago."

"You almost did," she added.

Well, that was true. "But I didn't."

"Something must have stopped you."

Why was she being all smart so suddenly? What happened to idiot Ichigo? "I just wanted to get you all flustered up is all. If there's anyone who enjoys all of this kissing, it's you, my dear Ichigo, considering you haven't once made a move to stop me from doing it," he said.

She chuckled. "You're saying I'm going along with all of this because I _like_ kissing you?"

"You're supposed to be stopping me."

"I'm supposed to keep you from going to thirty."

"Thus meaning you're supposed to be stopping me," he replied. "Why can't you just admit that you actually enjoy kissing me?"

"Why can't _you_ just admit that you actually enjoy kissing _me_?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "It really isn't as great as you're making it seem, Ichigo," he stated, prepared to see her get all steamed up once again.

Her mouth dropped, just as expected. "That is such a lie!"

"You're giving yourself too much credit here."

"And you are nothing but a liar. You love kissing me, otherwise you wouldn't be doing it so much. You could have made a bet to kiss me ... oh, I don't know ... ten, maybe fifteen times, but you chose to do thirty, because you were just dying for the chance to kiss him numerous times."

"Actually," he began, holding up a finger to stop her from continuing her rant. "I made the bet before I kissed you that first time, so I said thirty before I had the chance to really figure out what kissing you would be like." He shrugged his shoulders. "I regret the number I chose not."

She wasn't backing down. "I am _not_ a bad kisser, Ryou," she said, crossing her arms in frustration.

He stared at her in silence for a long moment before speaking. "Prove it."

She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"If you're such a great kisser, why don't you prove it? Kiss me right now."

"I'm not gonna–"

"It's a free shot. I won't count it as part of the bet."

She paused, blinking at him as she thought about this. "Well ... well, alright," she said, nodding in agreement.

He smirked, shrugging his shoulders. "Give it your best shot."

She bit her lip, taking a deep breath, just as she began to lean in closer to him. But just as she was prepared for the kiss–Ryou's head turned around. "Did you hear that?"

Ichigo blinked, pulling back away from him, looking a tad disappointed. "Hear what? I didn't hear anything."

"There was a knock on the front doors," he sighed, walking out of the kitchen into the main area. "Must be Keiichiro. Probably forgot his keys or something."

"Alright, I'll be here" Ichigo shouted from the kitchen, in a sing-song voice, though she went into a slight pout when he was no longer looking.

Ryou shook his head, giving half a chuckle. She really was a weird one, he thought. And perhaps he was getting his hopes up too high, but all seemed to be going very well, and luck seemed to be on his side today. Perhaps things will get along well for the two of them after all. Only time would tell.

And as Ryou opened the front door, it seemed as though that time was now.

First things first, Ryou automatically knew that the person that was standing in front of him was _not_ Keiichiro or someone he was in any way particularly happy to see.

The boy in front of him put his hands in his pockets, taking a breath. "Hello. Ryou, right? Um, I was just at Ichigo's house, but her parents said I'd find her here, so ... is she here, by any chance?"

Ryou said nothing. He just stayed at the boy, wondering what happened to that slight bit of luck that was on his side. Apparently, it had just been stolen away. He opened his mouth to speak up, not quite sure what he was going to say or even wanting to say anything at all, but he knew he couldn't just shut the door on him.

But just then, a bouncing Ichigo popped up from behind him, still not away of the identity of the door knocker. "Say, Ryou, who is–?" She cut off upon seeing the boy.

It looked as though both Ryou and Ichigo now remained speechless, in complete surprise at their current visitor, which while is kept a mystery to our audience by remaining unnamed at this current moment, it probably is obvious to our readers who the mystery visitor is.

"I–um–I–what–what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked, her jaw still dropped very wide in shock.

"I came to see you," was his simple answer.

"But I thought ... I, um ... " Ichigo trailed off, not quite sure what to make out of all of this. "Masaya?"

Yes, Masaya Aoyama. He stood there in front of the two surprised characters, who both believed he was currently located at London, but apparently had believed wrong for if he were in London after all, he would not be standing them in front of them at that moment. Unless of course there was some bizarre time paradox where he had the power to be in two places at once, thus making it possible for him to be in both London _and_ in front of Café Mew Mew.

But because while this is fanfiction after all, it isn't _that_ type of fanfiction, so the fact remains that Masaya was in Tokyo and _not _London, after all.

As for Ryou, this sad little fact was most of all unfortunate for him, for his hopes of finally having a chance with the girl he had feelings for seemed to have flown out the window this time around.

So much for happy endings.

**-End, Part XII.**

Bwahahaha! I bet you all just _loved _that ending, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU!? I already know I'm gonna get shot for taking so long updating this story anyway, so I have no need to fear getting shot for bringing Masaya back. And you _cannot_ say that you didn't see it coming, because it is so obvious that Masaya always comes back to bite us where it hurts. Yup, indeed he does.

And, well, it looks like just before the cat got dragged in (although _he's_ not really the cat, but, well, eh), it looks as though Ryou and Ichigo may have been getting just a tad bit closer. Hmm, what does that tell you, eh? Just so you know, we're not even halfway through the story, so don't think the happy ending's coming just yet, so hold your horses (what is it with me using all of these bad cliché lines? D:).

So, for the next chapter! It's called "Excessive Chain". Yeah. I know. Stupid title. But, well, I didn't make it up, it's all part of the Thirty Kisses list, so I got to go along with that. It'll be from Ichigo's point of view, and well, we're gonna be seeing a bit of Masaya going on, so prepare to fear that.

... Don't kill me?

So, before I run away from the angry RxI fan mob, I guess I'll do a quick cliffhanger review! Whoo! WHAT is Ichigo going to do now with both her ex-boyfriend and her kissing buddy in the building?! WHO wants to see me dead for all of the very, very stupid things I do, like for instance, not updating and dragging in Pretty Boy?! (ANSWER: EVERYBODY) WHY ... can I currently not think of cliffhanging questions?! WHERE is that Carmen SanDiego whom has nothing to do with this story, but I keep bringing her up because she's become the true star of this fanfiction story?! And HOW am I ever going to finish the story at this pace?! AHH! Now go find something to keep yourselves busy for months as you wait for the 13th chapter of THIRTY KISSES! GO GO GO GO GO!


	13. Excessive Chain

Wow, I must say I'm excessively impressed with the popularity of the previous chapter. In just two days prior to its upload, it managed to receive 20+ reviews, and the hits of the story went from being in the 17,000's to 18,000's pretty fast. Let me say that had me quite impressed, along with all the reviews I got. Some reactions were expected, some weren't, etc. I know that the whole Masaya thing had most people in a rage, but not to worry, this is a RyouxIchigo fanfiction story, so you have nothing to fear! Besides, when I have every let you people down? (:

... Let's not answer that question.

Anyway, for the new story stats: 101 favs, 97 alerts, and 319 reviews. Yes, I'm proud to say that I've managed to approach my 300-review goal, despite only having 12 chapters complete, and it's all thanks to the lovely readers out there that write their reviews, encouraging me to write more. And as my observational skills show, my story is the 4th most-reviewed story in the Tokyo Mew Mew section. Gosh, I love statistics! Whoo!

Also, as a side note, I'd like to inform my readers, that I've begun a new RyouxIchigo story. But never fear! This does not mean I'm kicking _Thirty Kisses_ to the side from now on. It just means I'll be busy writing two stories now. xD Actually, it has its good points. For instance, while you wait for a new chapter of this story, you can catch up on the other one. Simple enough. So, yeah, go read it after you're done with the chapter in case you haven't already!

Back on this story! For this chapter, the title is "Excessive Chain", correct? Being an odd number, the chapter will focus on Ichigo, and to say something that will mostlikelygetmeshot, it will focus a bit on what the heck's going on with Masaya. Don't worry, we'll still have some RyouxIchigo-ness to go around, but to continue with that, we have to clear up the Masaya mess. On to the story!

**XIII. EXCESSIVE CHAIN**

_The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in  
__Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin  
__A nuclear error, but I have no fear  
__London is drowning, and I live by the river  
_-'London Calling' by The Clash

There's always that cliché idea that everyone's had one of those dreams where everything seems normal and their day is going just like any other. Of course, all goes down to hell when all of sudden, every single person you know has appeared out of nowhere, and for some reason, you're now naked.

Then you get that feeling that can only be described by the letters "omgwtfbbq", where you have no idea what the heck is going on, or what country you plan on moving to now. But you don't have the space to think, because now it feels like the world is laughing at you, and you're stuck in a situation where you never expected to be.

That was how Ichigo felt at that exact moment.

So, sure, she wasn't naked. No, every person she knew wasn't standing right in front of her. And no, she was _not_ dreaming. But she was in a situation she never expected to be in. And she was trying to figure out which country she was planning to move to. She did always want to go to France, but she never had the chance to learn the language. She did know _some_ English, so maybe America wouldn't be such a bad idea.

But it's not as though she had the chance to get the heck out of there right then. She was stuck; stuck between her perfect ex-boyfriend who broke up with her in a letter not even four hours ago and her jerk of an emplorer who also in four hours had somehow became her new kissing buddy. Not a very good situation to be in.

She'd rather be naked.

"I thought you were in London," was all she could pretty much say at that moment, because she was kind of in a shock, as are the rest of the audience at this point.

"I was, but I–" he cut off, as he began lowing his eyes down Ichigo, causing her eyes to bug out. Oh golly! Was he checking her out? At this moment!?

Ichigo looked down at herself, and realized what exactly he was looking at. She was dressed in Ryou's clothes, which definitely shouted out, "Holy crap! Awkwardness!", which Ichigo really did want to scream out right then.

"Oh, gosh, um ... this isn't what it looks like. You see, I fell in mud, and I had no extra clothes, so Ryou was nice enough to go ahead and let me–"

"You two probably have a lot to talk about," Ryou cut in, looking at Ichigo, who almost looked like she was having trouble breathing. He looked back at Masaya. "Why don't you come inside? I have to head up to take a shower anyhow," he said, opening the door wider to allow the other boy in.

Masaya looked over at Ichigo to get her approval. Her eyes were quite wide, and she looked as if she'd just scream out at any moment and run off into the streets. But she managed to give a nod, and walked inside, with Masaya eventually following her. Ryou just sighed, and went inside as well, but went straight upstairs, not wanting to involve himself any further in this situation.

Ichigo sat down at a table and kept her hands on her knees. She looked up nervously at Masaya as he sat down, trying to figure out why he was here in the first place. There was no way that this could be like one of those typical stories where the ex-boyfriend comes back to talk about getting back together.

"I wanted to talk about getting back together."

Holy crap.

"Wait, I don't get it. I mean ... you sent me a letter telling me you want to break up, then you call me saying you want to talk, and then all of sudden pop up out of nowhere. All of this within twenty-four hours–no, wait, it hasn't even been like four hours!"

"You only just got the letter?" He sighed. "Can't trust UPS."

Great, he breaks up with her and he's putting all the blame on the delivery company. "Masaya, can't you just please explain to me what the heck is going on? I mean, why'd you break up with me anyway?"

He looked at her with sadness in his eyes, before he looked down away from her, playing with his fingers. "Gosh, I really don't know how to explain all of this to you. You see–"

Masaya stopped, when Ichigo gave a high-pitched gasp. "I knew it! I knew it!" She shouted, jumping up from her seat. "Ryou mentioned a secret girlfriend, I should've known it!" She said, despite the fact that she was the one who thought up that little idea.

"Hold on, Ichigo, that's not what I was–"

She gasped again. "Oh no! Please don't tell me it's someone I know. _Please_ don't tell me something like that," she said, now pacing around the table. "It has to be Minto, right? Because I really doubt it'd be Retasu, considering she's way too shy around people, especially males, so she wouldn't do such a thing. Purin's too young, Zakuro's too old. Minto did always say how cute you were, but you know, I just didn't think through it deep enough."

Masaya tried to speak up to her once again, though his struggle wasn't doing much effort. "Ichigo, you have it all wrong. I'm not–"

"No, no, it had to be the long distance thing. You couldn't deal with it. So you couldn't have gone for someone who still lives here, cause there'd still be that problem," she said, going deeper into thought, still not permitting Masaya to speak. "Oh gosh! You fell for some British chippy, didn't you?!"

He sighed, as she began letting out high-pitched groans. It really didn't seem like he could get through to her, so might as well allow her to let out everything she needed to let out now.

"Gosh, here I was freaking about what whether or not I was being unloyal to you by kissing Ryou, despite the fact that you had apparently broken up with me, and you're off making out with British chippies off in ... darn London!" She shouted, throwing her hands about.

Masaya's head jolted up. "Wait, you–you kissed Ryou?"

Ichigo apparently did not hear him. "I bet you were dancing with them all with ... with the stupid Clash playing in the background, right? Oh, I can hear it now! London calling to the faraway towns! Now that war is declared-and battle come down!"

"Ichigo!"

But she continued to sing. "London calling to the underworld! Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls!"

Finally, he stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Ichigo, can you just listen for just a minute!?"

She blinked at him. "Wait, what were we talking about?" She asked, seeming blanked out for a moment. "Oh ... oh! Right, yeah, um ... you cheated on me!"

He shook his head. "No, I didn't cheat on you."

"But the British chippies!"

"There was no British chippies."

"London Calling?"

He shook his head again. "No singing or dancing, either."

She blinked repeatedly. "Wait, so you didn't fall for someone else?" She asked, not quite sure what to think. That really didn't align with the whole thing.

So far this had been turning out like a cliché story with all the events of Masaya breaking up with her, popping out of nowhere, wanting to get back together. So what was supposed to have happened is that he had been cheating on her with someone else the whole time, but that got flushed down the toilet, so now he was looking to get back together. He was ruining the alignment of the storyline by not having been cheating on her!

"Is it ... cause I'm fat?" she asked, in all seriousness.

It caused Masaya to give a chuckle, as he shook his head. "You're not fat, Ichigo."

"Then ... why'd you want to break up with me?"

He sighed, letting go of her shoulders, as he sat back down. "Ryou ... you said you kissed him?"

"I, err–what?" She blinked, confused. Had she really said that? She told Masaya about kissing Ryou!? What the heck was wrong with her!? Her ex-boyfriend was talking about getting back together and she decides then to bring up the fact that she's been practically making out with her jerk of an employer numerous times!? Maybe Ryou was right about her. She _was_ an idiot. "Um ... no?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. Well, yeah, she was the idiot, not Masaya. The guy was pretty smart, despite the fact that he may have been pretty dense at certain situations. Darn it, why couldn't this have been one of them?

She sat back down, shaking her hands. "No, no, no, it's definitely not what you think. You see, it's just cause of this stupid bet he set up about him being able to kiss me like thirty times in one day, and if he wins, I work without money, but if he loses, I get paid double what I get now, and for just waitressing, that's a _lot_ of money. So, you see, I'm only going along with this whole kissing thing for the money!"

He blinked.

She paused.

Oh gosh. Did she just say that? "Oh my god, I'm a whore!" She shouted, banging her head repeatedly on the table. "I'm a money-hungry whore!"

Masaya's eyes widened, watching her. "Ichigo, wait–no!" He said, trying to stop her from preventing more injury upon herself. "You're not a ... you're not ... a ... whore," he said softly, not quite comfortable with saying the word outloud.

She let out a loud whimper. "But I'm kissing guys for money!" She said, despite the fact that there was only one guy involved, and in order to get the money, she was supposed to actually _not_ kiss him. "What am I complaining about? You had the right to break up with me! I'm completely unloyal and such a horrible person!"

He took her hands, and tried to give her a smile. "You're not a horrible person, Ichigo," he said to her. "You're wonderful and there's nothing about you that wouldn't make me want to be with you."

She sighed, looking up at him. "Then what happened?"

He paused, letting a long moment pass by before he finally spoke up to her. "Ryou happened."

Ryou happened? Well, that didn't make much sense. How could "Ryou happen"? What was he–oh, gosh! No way! Masaya couldn't be gay! He couldn't be in love with Ryou! Her ex-boyfriend and her kissing buddy were lovers!? Oh, gosh! Talk about complete grossness!

No, wait. Him being witih Ryou would still categorize as there being someone else, and he said that wasn't it. Whew, that was a close one.

She blinked. "Um, what do mean? How does Ryou have anything to do with this?" She tried to think about it, but it didn't seem to make much sense. "It can't be about the kissing thing, cause ... cause that all happened _after_ I got the letter."

"Well, you see–"

"Oh gosh! Is this about all those times where he almost kissed me!? Masaya, you don't understand! He forced me into those situations! Sure, I almost went for it, but they were only experiments! You know, to test the effects of the DNA and all of that. We kissed as cats here and there, but those don't count, cause they were only to help me out! And the dancing? Sure, it wasn't that bad, but if I was given the opportunity to do it again, I would so not do it! I swear!"

Masaya looked at her in complete confusion. "Wait, what are you talking about, Ichigo?"

"You know! All those times where–!" She paused, to look at his confused expression, before giving a nervous laugh. "You didn't know about any of that, did you?"

He shook his head. "Not before now, no."

Ichigo, she said to herself in her mind, you're a complete idiot.

"Okay, right, um ... can you just pretend I said nothing just now and continue on with what you were about to say before I start blabbering with my mouth again?"

He nodded, rubbing his forehead, not sure how to begin this time around, "Well, you see ... the reason I broke up with you is because after giving it much thought and observing the current situations, I've begun to believe that perhaps ... that perhaps I'm not the one for you after all."

Wow, this was certainly an "eh?" moment. "What situations? Why would you ever believe that? You know how much I love you, and there's never been anyone else but you, Masaya, so how ... ?"

"It's like I said before," he spoke quietly. "Ryou happened."

Okay, Ichigo was an idiot, but even she could figure out that what he meant by that was that Masaya didn't believe he was the one for her because he was beginning to think that Ryou was actually the one for her. And _that_, friends, is just plain crazy talk!

"Wait, Masaya, there's nothing with me and Ryou. Everything's just been a pack of misunderstandings and his stupid actions to try and frustrate me. Ryou's just a jerk and I've never thought of him in that way."

"But he loves you."

Ichigo paused at that. Right before she burst out laughing with a loud, huge snicker. "Wow, that is the funniest thing I've ever heard you come up with, Masaya. Did you really fly all the way back here from London to tell me something as silly as that?" She asked, still in the burst of giggles.

But upon seeing the serious look upon his face, she began to consider that perhaps maybe he wasn't joking. "Hold on, you seriously believe Ryou loves me?" He couldn't, it was all just crazy talk. "You can't possibly! That's just crazy talk!" Exactly.

"Ichigo," he began again, sighing. "Whenever I called you from London, do you know what the first thing you always said to me was?" He asked.

She tried to think on this. Nope, it didn't come to her. She was an idiot and had a pretty sucky memory, too. She really was on a roll today. She shook her head at him.

"You'd always tell me, 'Masaya, you wouldn't believe what that jerk Ryou did to me today!'" He chuckled. "Every conversation started out the same way."

Err, what? "So, because I tell you the horribleness of Ryou's everyday actions, that means Ryou loves me?" Yup, crazy talk. And this was his reason for breaking up with her? Gosh, it would have been simpler if he had just cheated on her.

"No. Ryou's feelings speak for itself. You, on the other hand, may have some things on your mind that you're ignoring," he said, and when he received a blank stare in reply, he continued. "I figured that perhaps you may have some hidden feelings for Ryou that even you don't realize."

WHAT!? "You think I love Ryou!?" Crazy talk! Crazy talk! "That's insane! I would never! The guy's a jerk, who just drives me insane with every single passing day. He makes me want to shoot myself. Why would I love someone who makes me want to shoot myelf?"

"Love makes you do crazy things."

"Pssh, yeah, but not suicide!" She thought about this. "And don't bring up that whole thing about the whole sacrificing ourselves for each other, because we did that to save each other, because that was all true love. In Ryou's case, I just want to free myself of the misery he brings upon me!"

"Eventually, I thought the same as you, that it was all just a crazy idea. And that's when I realized my mistake. I came back to tell you that I was wrong and mistaken."

She sighed in relief. "Good, that's good. So now we can just get together again and forget about this whole thing, right? I mean, it's all so insane that I really can't believe you even thought it up."

He shook his head. Wait, no? "That was the plan. To just come here and make things go back to the way they were, but ... but with everything you told me, it just brings me back to my first prediction."

That couldn't ... he couldn't ... "No, wait, Masaya, don't say that. You don't understand! Ryou and I, we're nothing! There's nothing there! He's a demon, and I am the subject of his torturous ways! There's no romance, there's no love, there's nothing but pure hate and frustration."

He couldn't possibly be serious. There was no way that he could mean what he was saying. Her and Ryou? No, that wasn't how it was. It was her and Masaya, it had always been that way, and there's no way that was going to change. Not now, not ever.

"Masaya, I ... I love you," she whispered, shaking her head slowly, denying that he was truly breaking up with her just now.

He pulled the chair closer to her and wrapped her into a hug. "I know that. I do, but ... am I really the only way you see in your heart right now?"

Of course he was, of course. He was the only one who she ...

... didn't she?

She began to cry. She didn't know what was going inside of her head anymore, or her heart for that matter, and at this point, she had no idea who she loved anymore or what her feelings were. "I don't want you to go again," she whispered, sniffling into his shirt.

"I know, but ... you have to figure out what it is you want. Maybe I'm wrong. I _hope_ I'm wrong, but ... I can't go on without you fully knowing what it is your heart wants," he said, pulling away. She tried to look away, but he took her chin and pulled up her face, attempting to smile at her. "If in the end, I truly am the one you love ... well, you know where to find me."

She sniffled, wanting to protest again, but instead she nodded. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I am, too. But we'll see how it all turns out," he told her, and she nodded again. "Don't you worry, Ichigo. You're gonna be happy no matter what happens. I can guarantee you that." With that, he stood up his chair, and began walking towards the front door. "I'll be seeing you, Ichigo."

And then he was gone.

Ichigo did not move from where she sat. She couldn't move at all, for right then, everything she thought she knew just wasn't had thought. The tears stopped rolling down, but her face was still wet, though she made no move to wipe it off.

Loving Ryou? That was something that never really hit her. And even now, it was still had to believe. But wasn't love blind? Maybe she did love Ryou, despite the fact that at the moment, she didn't really _feel _it. But she didn't _feel_ what she had felt for Masaya anymore either. At that moment, she felt complete nothingness.

The day really did turn out to be a surprise, and never had she thought that so much could happen in just four or five hours. It was still barely afternoon, yet she had already broken up with Masaya twice, kissed Ryou twelve times, and ended up in some bizarre, almost non-existent love triangle.

It was all crazy talk.

At that moment, Ryou came downstairs, fully dressed in his typical clothing, after quite a long shower. He looked around the area, seeming confused as to where Masaya went. "Where did he–?"

"He's gone," Ichigo answered, without looking up. She remained seated, looking straight ahead at a wall, that was, in all true reality, not at all interesting.

Ryou opened his mouth to say something, but immediately closed it. It was one of those moments where silence was the best. After all, it wasn't as if anything could be done at that moment. Nothing could just fix up everything that had just blown up so suddenly, so mysteriously.

Except that the silence did not last all that long, for Ichigo managed to speak up. "Ryou?"

"Hmm?" He looked down at her.

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

She paused, before finally looking up at him, her face still slightly wet from the tears. "Can you kiss me?" The question caused him to blink, and he tried to figure out what to say to that, but she spoke up again. "Please? I just want to see something."

One thing Ryou knew was to never question a girl when she cries. After all, women were hard to talk to when they got all emotional over whatever it was that made them that way, whether it was a big deal or not. Instead of saying anything, he leaned over, placing his hands on the sides of her chair.

Ichigo stared at him, wondering about what Masaya had told her. She did exaggerate a lot about hating Ryou and whatnot. She didn't hate him. Yes, she couldn't stand him at so many moments, but she didn't hate him. In fact, she always figured she kind of liked him a little. But there was a difference between liking someone and really having feelings for them. She just had to figure out whether the difference here wasn't as big as she thought.

Ryou leaned in slowly, but closely, as she simply sat, waiting. He stopped moving to give her one final look, before he leaned in and kissed her lips.

It was soft and simple at first, just like most of the other kisses that day, but then this time, Ichigo kissed him back, and she made no effort to try and hide it. She put her hands on his face, and brought him closer.

How long this lasted, no one could really tell, but to put it in simple terms, it was, well ... pretty darn long. As Ichigo pulled away, she looked at the blond in front of her, still unsure of what she truly felt for him.

Even so, she truly did want to see how things would end up turning out. This excessive chain of events truly was giving her a headache, and with everything changes so quickly and so suddenly, she really wanted to just get things figured out already. But all things take time, and it would still be some time before she knew how she truly felt.

This was insane. She was testing to see whether she still loved Masaya or if in fact, this whole time, she actually loved Ryou?

Darn it! It's all just crazy talk!

**-End, Part XIII.**

Wow, that was all just so ... gosh, wow, I'm even impressed with it all. xD Now, I suspect that I might also get killed for this chapter as well, considering that Ryou was even barely in it. But you can't say I didn't warn you, and I needed to get a whole chapter to have the whole Masaya thing get cleared up and for the ex-couple to have some closure, don't you think? And you see! Masaya ain't a bad guy! He just wants Ichigo happy. I don't hate the guy, he just bores me every so often, but I liked how I wrote him up. And you should too. :D

And I actually laughed at myself a couple of times while writing this chapter like the whole "money-hungry whore" thing. xD Whoo, I'm so silly. And just so you all know, there'll be plenty of RyouxIchigo-ness from here on out. I know you all got giggly at that last part, didn't you? Well, I had to write _something_ to make up for Ryou's absence throughout the chapter.

Next chapter? "Radio-Cassette Player". Yup, kind of random, but you know, ain't it all? You'll just have to see how that's gonna turn out.

So for the cliff-hanging voice! WHAT is going on with Ichigo and her bizarre whacked-up feelings!? WHO was shocked at how nice and selfless Masaya ended up being in this chapter!? WHY did I leave out Ryou for like 90 of this chapter!? WHERE is Carmen Sandiego at this moment (answer: she's at dance practice, haha, don't ask)!? HOW did I manage to write up a whole chapter in one day without ONE SINGLE WRITER'S BLOCK MOMENT!? BWAHA! Yes! I'm awesome! Stay tuned for Chapter FOURTEEN of the o' so wonderful THIRTY KISSES!

And on a side note, go read my other RyouxIchigo story, _Tomorrow Never Knows._ GO GO GO GO GO!


	14. Radio Cassette Player

What is this!? After only one day, I already had more than 20 reviews for chapter 13! This is insane! My story can't be all that great. oo Still, I'm kind of flattered by all of the reviews. And surprisingly, I got a lot of good feedback on the last chapter. Despite the fact that it was very Masaya-centric, people were quite impressed with how things turned out, and people liked Masaya, too. Although, some were still kind of raged at his presence.

New story stats: 110 favs, 104 alerts, and 373 reviews. Whoo! I swear, if all of these reviews keep coming at me like this, I'll end up at 400 reviews in no time. Although half of the reviews are just threats from you all most of the time. You all can really get vicious, can't you? Although some do contain presents for me! Thanks for that! -clings to her new ryou plushie-

So, for this chapter, is is called "Radio-Cassette Player" and yes, it is a random title, but I don't pick the titles, so I can't really explain that too much. And on a side note, I don't think anyone will dislike this chapter. It isn't one of those that tends to frustrate readers with random ex-boyfriends and bad cliffhangers. So read, my friends, read!

**XIV. RADIO-CASSETTE PLAYER**

_This is not a coincidence  
__And far more than a lucky chance  
__But what is that was always meant  
__Is our ribbon in the sky for our love  
_-'Ribbon in the Sky' by Stevie Wonder

During his shower–cue the fangirl squeals–Ryou did a lot of thinking. Back in the laundry room, he had become so hopeful and thrilled with thoughts that perhaps he actually may have a chance with Ichigo that he ended up just falling apart the minute Masaya appeared due to the bizarre time paradox thing of him being in two places at once.

And well, that really sucked.

So in the shower–squeeeeeals!–Ryou reconsidered these thoughts, and realized that luck never was on his side. He lost his parents at such a young age and he lost his chances at being with the girl he loved. Talk about bad luck, eh? So basically, he figured that with London Boy back in town, he was pretty much doomed for life without any chance of something good actually happening for him.

He had stayed upstairs for some extra time after his shower, knowing that they had quite some talking to do, and eventually decided to come downstairs where he found the tearful Ichigo all by herself.

And that was when he had his "omgwtfbbq" moment.

It's not everyday that as soon as you feel life is over as you know it, the person you love tells you to kiss them and goes ahead and grabs her, despite their numerous comments of how much they want to murder you so.

So, while, yes, he had given up on ever having a real chance with Ichigo, he couldn't help but feel ... err, giddy may not be the correct word, but he felt something among those terms about that thirteenth kiss. Lucky 13, right?

And thus, it all brings us back to the here and now, where the two are quietly staring at one another after their kiss which lasted longer than a strip of Wrigley's Extra sugar-free gum. Of course, still leaning over, Ryou's back was quite in pain, so he broke the awkward silence by standing up straight.

Actually, it just took the awkwardness out of it; the silence was still there. He attempted to open his mouth to say something, but instead, just shut it close again and turn around, beginning to walk away.

As soon as he did, Ichigo got up from her chair to follow him. "Ryou, wai–ACK!" She screamed, as she came crashing onto the floor below.

Ryou winced as he heard her body hit the floor, and turned around to examine the mess. Seeing her laying flat on the ground, he rolled his eyes, kneeling down next to her. "You alright down there?"

"Oww, I'm ... fine," she muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Gosh, that was mighty random," she said.

He shook his head, not believing he was still witnessing Ichigo's idiocy. "Not really. I should have expected it. You are so accident prone, Ichigo," he told her, holding out his hand. "Need help?"

"No," she said, not moving from the ground for a moment. But finally, she sighed, and grabbed his hand, as he pulled her up. "Oww, oww, oww!" She cried out, when she put her two feet flat on the ground. Looking down, she noticed a scratch on the side of her leg. "I think I got cut."

He examined it, slightly confused. "What the heck did you cut yourself with? There's nothing sharp around!" He told her, believing that _this_ was what was random. These things could only happen in some idiot fanfiction story, he thought.

"I don't know," she muttered, as she began to hop on one leg. "Bandages are in the kitchen, right? Whoa!" She almost fell once more, but kept her balanced, as she went on hopping in the direction of the kitchen.

Ryou sighed, watching her. "Ichigo, sit down, I'll get them."

"No, no, I got it!" She said, hopping through the kitchen doors out of sight. "Whoa! Oww!"

"Idiot," Ryou said, outloud, finally following her inside the other room. When he stepped in, he saw her hopping across the room, going through the drawers. "Ichigo, what are you doing? Sit down. Gosh, you're acting like you broke your whole foot, it's a small cut."

"I told you, I got–oh, look! Lollipops!" She said, quite excited, as she continued to go through the contents of the drawers. "Whoa, this looks ancient. What is this?" She asked, holding up an object.

Ryou walked over closer to her to get a better look. "Oh, that? Keiichiro's radio-cassette player."

She blinked. "Those things still exist? Does he not know what an iPod is?" she asked, looking quite disgusted with the object in her hand as if it was a dead beetle or something of the sort.

"He seems to like it."

"If you say so," she said, throwing it back in the drawer. "Hey, look, sporks!" She said, fascinated once more with the objects she was finding, as if she had just opened a treasure box. Then again, Ichigo did get fascinated quite easily by pretty much anything that came her way.

Ryou leaned against the counter. "–are a figment of your imagination."

She giggled. "No, foons are!"

He thought about that. "--a gene splicing experiment gone wrong between a fork and a spoon?" He shook his head, thinking about it further. "Wait. It wouldn't be gene splicing, because forks and spoons do not have genes," he said, getting into his scientific rant mode.

"You don't know that," she told him, not looking up from her search.

"I'm pretty sure they don't, seeing as how they are manufactured."

Ichigo looked up at him, and tilted her head. "Have you ever watched them while they were manufactured?"

He shook his head at her, crossing his arms. "Not really. I have a life."

"Do you really?"

"Yup."

Ichigo went back to her search, looking through yet another drawer. "If you have a life, then I'm just a contorted foon."

"Sarcastic, much?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," she said, sighing as she shut the drawer quickly. "Darn it, where are those stupid bandages!?" she shouted, becoming quite frustrated. She then saw Ryou reach into the drawer behind him and pull out an item which he tossed in her direction. She caught it, realizing it was a box of bandages. "You knew where they were the whole time and you didn't say anything?"

He smirked, shrugging. "It was fun watching you attempt to take things into your hands."

She shook her head at him, annoyed as she hopped up on the edge of the counter, taking out a bandage from the box. She brought her cut leg closer to her body to try to place the bandage but the angle was making the situation kind of difficult.

As she attempted to figure out how she would place the bandage, Ryou stepped over to her and took it from her hand. "You're so stubborn, you know that? First of all, you have to kind of clean it up first before you place this," he said, taking a cloth and wetting it under the sink. He then lightly pressed the wet part of the cloth against her cut. "Really, I don't know how you'll ever survive on your own."

"Hey, that's a bit mean, don't you think!?" She complained, crossing her arms. "You know that I'm not entirely stupid. Why do you always have to pick on me about that?"

Putting the cloth to that side, he examined the cut to make sure it was clean. "Well, you have managed to save the world. I guess I can give you some credit for that," he said, making her frown, although he looked at her with a smirk. "I know you aren't stupid. But then again, I'm not complaining every second you call me mean."

"You _are_ mean," she said, as he began to place the bandage on her cut.

"I'm not that bad, Ichigo."

"Is that what you think?"

He tilted his head and stared at her. Sure, he teased her a lot here and there, but he wasn't like the devil or anything. Was he? He sighed, looking away. "I don't mean what I say, you know."

She blinked, just looking down on him. "Then if you don't mean what you say, how can I trust what you just said?" She asked, with a grin.

He looked back at her, and shook his head. "You're an idiot, Ichigo," he muttered, this time making her giggle. "There, all done. You're all fixed up now. Although it really wasn't that big of a cut, you baby," he said, beginning to walk away, but stopped when he noticed she wasn't moving. "What now?"

"Help me down?"

He rolled his eyes. "What are you, four? You can do it yourself."

"Pleeease!"

Ryou groaned, walking back to her, as she took out her hand for him to take. He just stared at her, before a smirk formed on his face. Instead of taking her hand, he brought both of his hands on her waist and lifted her up in the air. "Whoa! Ryou! Ryou! Ryou! What are you doing!? This is high! Put me doooown!"

He chuckled. "You really are a baby," he said, bringing her down to the ground. "That's what you get for not doing it yourself." He then turned and began walking again, but once again stopped.

"Gosh, I hate you, Ryou," she muttered, but was ignored, as Ryou took her hand and began dragging her. "Whoa, what you doing now?!" She questioned, as he took her up the stairs and into his room. "O-okay, your bedroom. We're not doing anything here ... right?" She gave him a scared look, before he just rolled his eyes at her and took her over to the window. "You aren't gonna throw me out through there, are you!?"

"Darn it, Ichigo, you really do talk too much," he said, opening up the window. "As much as that idea thrills me so, no, I am not throwing you out the window. I just want to show you something," he told her, as he climbed out the window.

She blinked, watching him. "You gonna jump? That's what you wanna show me?"

"Just follow me and shut up, alright?"

She leaned out the window to see him climb up the wall outside and get onto the roof. Her eyes widened, watching him. "Uh, monkey boy, you want me to climb up there?" There was no response, leaving her to sigh, and slowly climb out. "Well, alright," she said to herself.

She grabbed onto a pipe that connected to the wall, and gulped, slowly climbing out the window. It made her wonder how Ryou managed to do this so quickly, but figured he had done this multiple times before, so was quite an expert in doing this. Letting out a whimper, she brought her feet outside, holding tightly to the pipe, opening it wouldn't break off right there.

She took a deep breath, and hesitated to look down, knowing the action would just freak her out. But she was in a kind of difficult position, and couldn't figure out what she was supposed to do next or how she was supposed to climb up. She was just about to open her mouth to call Ryou, when suddenly his hand appeared in front of her. "You are so slow. Come on."

She bit her lip and took one of her hands off the pipe to take his, and in one swift swoop, he brought her up onto the roof. "Whoa, that was ... what are you doing going all nuts, climbing out windows, and jumping on roofs? I could have _died_."

He rolled his eyes, sitting down, leaning back on his elbows. "Stop exaggerating. And I usually take the door to get here, but I figured going through the window would be much more exciting for you."

She blinked. "Door?" She asked, as he pointed to a hidden door on the ground of the roof that must have led somewhere back inside. She groaned. "You jerk." He said nothing, looking out past her. Wondering what he was looking at, she turned around.

It was a beautiful scene. Being high up there, one could see over the trees and see far out into the city. The sun was high up, hiding behind the clouds at this moment, making the sky look peaceful and simple. Everything was so pretty now, it made Ichigo wonder how much more beautiful it was when sunset came. "This is ..."

Ryou nodded, when she trailed off. "Beautiful, yeah."

She sat down next to him, not taking her eyes off of it. "You come out here often?"

"Everyday," he answered.

"You come out here with Keiichiro or something?"

He shook his head. "I've never brought anybody here," he answered, sighing. "You're ... you're the first."

Ichigo blinked, looking over at him, but he said nothing. She stayed quiet, and looked back to the clouds, when suddenly an idea formed in her mind. "Oh, that's perfect!" He looked at her confused, as she hopped up and ran to the door. "I'll be back in a quick minute! Hold on!"

He just watched her disappear, not saying anything. It was then he regretted telling her about the door. It would have been quite entertaining, watching her struggle to get back through the window. Oh well.

Ryou sat there in thought. Nothing unusual, considering he usually was in thought. And his thoughts were not unusual either. They were about Ichigo. _Of course_.

That kiss from earlier was still a wonder, and he still thought about its possible meaning. Apparently, things were over with her and Masaya meaning he had a chance again. But did he, really? Just because Masaya was out of the picture, it didn't mean that she'd go running to him now. Especially not this soon.

He still figured he was kidding himself thinking Ichigo would possibly feel the same. But either way, it was best not to dwell on it–though he probably would continue to anyway. Still, he had to just try to enjoy the rest of the day with her and not worry about any "feelings" that may or may not be there.

The most important thing was to enjoy the time they spent together.

He sighed. Gosh, that was a cheesy line.

It was then that Ichigo came rushing back onto the roof, this time with Keiichiro's radio-cassette player in one hand, and her iPod earphones in another. "I've been so curious about what he has on here. Though I wasn't going to put those darn giant earmuffs on my head, so I switched the earphones to mine. Plus, this way, we can both listen."

She sat next to him, putting an ear piece in her ear and then placing the other in his. "Okay, this is it," she said, slowly pressing the play button.

There was a silence in the air as Ryou and Ichigo listened to the music that played in their ears. They simply looked at one another, not saying a word as they listened. However, in no time at all, Ichigo let out a chuckle, and not long after, so did Ryou.

"Oh gosh, is this Stevie Wonder?"

He nodded, still chuckling. "I believe it is."

Ichigo giggled. "I must say, this isn't so bad. Keiichiro's a bit old-fashioned, but he seems to have a good taste in music," she said, as she began clapping. "He deserves an applaude." She then began moving side to side to the music, singing, "_Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours._"

He couldn't help but laugh when she sung. "Please don't sing, Ichigo."

"Oh, you find that funny, do you?" She asked, continuing. "_Here I am, baby Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours._"

Ryou had to bite his lip to stop, and even then, he could not cease laughing. He lay down, rubbing his forehead, avoiding to look at her to keep from laughing even more. But even when the laughter died down, he couldn't seem to take the smile off his face.

Seeing this, Ichigo, herself, smiled, as she lay down next to him. In silence, they both continued to listen to the music that played in their ears, looking up to the clouds above them. Eventually, Ichigo spoke up, "A bunny."

"Hmm?"

She pointed above. "That cloud, it looks like a bunny."

Ryou sighed. "What is it with girls always thinking clouds look like girly things? Looks more like ... a tiger or something."

"We do not always think they look girly! What about you, never thinking they look like girly things?"

He rolled his eyes at her, pointed to a different cloud in the sky. "That looks like a butterfly. There, a girly thing."

"Now you're just saying that."

"Did you ever realize how frustrating you are, Ichigo?"

"I could say the same for you."

That silenced him, as he just looked at her, knowing she was right. It was the first time she had him without something to say in response. " ... Whatever, Ichigo."

She giggled. "Whoo! I got you! That means a point for me!"

"We're keeping this tallied?"

"As of now, we are."

"Idiot."

She was about to respond back, when she suddenly gasped. "Oh! This song! I love this song!"

Ryou just watched her hum the song, happily, not really knowing the song himself. He had to admit, it did sound quite nice though. Before now, he never did actually wonder what it was that Keiichiro listened to on his cassette player, but listening to it now, it didn't seem so bad.

Ichigo continued to hum, as she quietly began singing again. "_So long for this night I prayed that a star would guide you my way to share with me this special day where a ribbon's in the sky for our love._"

Ryou closed his eyes, listening to Ichigo sing the song, ignoring the sounds that came from the city. It suddenly became so peaceful in that instant. Complete silence, aside from Ichigo's voice. He could barely even hear the music that was playing from the earpiece in his ear.

"_From now on, it will be you and I, and our ribbon in the sky, ribbon in the sky, a ribbon in the sky for our love._"

As he continued to listen, he couldn't tell if he had fallen asleep or not. Everything had seemed to fade away except for the song. There was complete peace for a long moment, until suddenly, he felt a flick on his nose. He twitched, hoping it would just go away, but the flicking continued.

His eyes blinked open, and Ichigo's face seemed to appear before him. She had a smile on her face as she flicked his nose once more. "Awake now, sleepyhead?" She asked, with a giggle.

It seemed he was, but his mind still seemed to be off in a dream, and he felt so far away from reality right then. He stared up at Ichigo, before he took her face in his hands and brought her down to kiss her.

Dream or reality, Ichigo didn't protest, and it continued for a quick instant, before Ryou pulled away.

"I guess so," she said, causing Ryou to blink repeatedly.

It was then, he remembered where he was and what had been happening. Letting go of Ichigo, he scooted back to sit up, shaking his head. "Sorry about that."

She shrugged, chuckling slightly. "It's alright. You looked like you really needed a nap," she responded, although he had actually apologized in regards to the kiss, but chose to say nothing about that. She hopped up. "I guess we should get back in now," she said, taking a few steps.

Being wide awake now, Ryou jumped up, seeing what Ichigo was doing. "Wait, Ichigo, don't walk there, there's a–!"

But it was too late. Stepping on a broken piece on the roof, Ichigo slipped, falling forwards off the side of the roof. Ryou rushed forward to see what had occured, and saw Ichigo dangling off the side of the roof. "Okay, this is really _not_ cool! Ryou! A ltitle help here!?"

He began to rush forward to help the girl, but in that instant, he, himself, forgot about the broken piece, and slipped on it himself, falling just as Ichigo did. However, he did managed to grab the side of the roof and was stuck dangling just as Ichigo was, right by her side.

"And _I'm_ the idiot?" She said, glaring at him. "At least you knew about it. You should've warned me, you know!"

"Warn you? I was about to when–Ichigo, this isn't exactly the greatest moment to be arguing about this!"

She groaned again, taking a deep breath. "Well, can't we just ... like, jump or something? Don't cats always land on their feet?" She asked, quite proud of herself for thinking fast in a moment like this.

"Yeah, when they land on the ground. There's a giant rose bush under us. It's a bunch of leaves, thorns, flowers–it's not exactly ... Wait, we can jump."

"In thorns? I don't think so."

"Ichigo, we don't exactly have a–"

"Ah!" She shouted, trying to grab on tighter. "My fingers are slipping–ah!" Suddenly, her hands let go of the roof, as she began to fall downward, but immediately, Ryou managed to grab her arm in time.

However, Ryou's hand wasn't enough to keep grasp on the side as it began to slip as well. "Ichigo, I need you to hold on to me. Quick!"

She didn't hesitate as she managed to wrap her arms around him, holding on tightly, as finally, Ryou's fingers gave out and let go of the roof. Ryou held onto Ichigo, while she screamed, as they descended down the side of the café, down into the giant rosebush below. However, as soon as they landed, their bodies rolled off the plants and landed down below into–

"Mud," Ryou muttered, with a groan, still holding onto Ichigo. "This is just–"

"Peachy," Ichigo finished, letting out a slight whine.

Ryou sighed, just as he saw something that seemed to be falling from the sky. He squinted his eyes to try and see what it was, but just as he formed an idea, the object landed right on–

"Argh, my nose!" Ryou groaned, as a huge pain formed in his nose. He grabbed the object and held it up to see that it was–

"Keiichiro's cassette player," Ichigo said, looking at it. The object, thankfully, seemed to be in perfect condition, after it had been saved by Ryou's nose, which may have been broken at this moment.

He could even hear the music still playing from the earpieces. "_Very superstitious, ladder's 'bout to fall._"

Ryou just groaned.

**-End, Part XIV.**

I had so much fun writing this chapter. xD I had the idea for that last part for a while now, and I've been dying to write it. There's a lot of ideas I had for this chapter, but there were too many, so I just took a few and decided to leave some for another time. It was meant to have a more serious theme, but I decided to make it something fun, and I really liked how it all turned out.

The next chapter is quite a big event. One? It's chapter fifteen, which means that the completion of this chapter would mean that _Thirty Kisses_ will be halfway done. That is like mega-time huge, so it should be such a great thing. Two? It'll be a big thing, cause I've had the idea for the entire chapter since I _began_ writing this story, and I've been waiting so long to get started on it, so I'm extremely excited for it. Three? Well, let's just say, it'll be the start of something you'll all like.

So now you have something to really be looking for. It's called "Perfect Blue", okay? You'll see the result of that title. Bwahahaha!

Wee! Cliff-hanging voice! WHAT are Ryou and Ichigo going to do now that they're gotten themselves soaked in mud _again_? WHO agrees with me that Stevie Wonder is SO FRIGGIN' AWESOME!? SQUEAL! WHEN will I actually finish up this insane story now that I'm almost done? WHY do I choose to frustrate Ryou's life so much in this story? WHERE is my good friend Carmen Sandiego and why does anyone even care? HOW long will it take me to update next time? The answers will–or will not–come in the following and half-time chapter of the infamous story, _Thirty Kisses_! YIPPEE!


	15. Perfect Blue

YAY! It's time for a celebration! Thirty Kisses is officially now 50 PERCENT COMPLETED! Oh, gee, wow, isn't that exciting? Despite the fact that it's been almost two years since I first started this story, I'm very proud of myself for reaching this point, considering I've never gotten more than a few chapters done for long-chaptered stories.

HOWEVER! I must greatly apologize considering the time it took me to post this chapter. I am very much sorry for taking so long to write this, despite me saying it wouldn't take long since I had it all planned out. Truth is, while I did have the general plan in my head, I didn't really know the details of how to make the plan work, so it took some time. But I'm not gonna throw out excuses. I guess I can't be definite on when I'm gonna post certain chapters, since my mind is everywhere all the time and nothing can be promised. I really wish I could try my best though to write more in shorter time.

New story stats: 143 favs, 138 alerts, and 456 reviews. Wow, two chapters ago, I had just reached 300 reviews, and now I dramatically passed the 400 mark. And the reviews have been amazing, I'm glad so many people have actually found the story to be -funny- cause, well, half of the time, I don't even aim for it, but yeah. And this story is a favorite of so many people. Haha, and yet, I'm still lazy with getting it done. :)

So, as for the chapter, as you know, it's a "special" one, being the half-time chapter of the story. But, uh, well, there's nothing really special about it. I hoped for it to be a lot better, but it didn't turn out that way. It's just another disappointing chapter for myself, but it does help lead a bit to where I plan to go with this story, I guess. That's all for me to say right now. Enjoy?

**XV. PERFECT BLUE**

_This flood is slowly rising up swallowing the ground  
Beneath my feet, Tell me how anybody thinks under this condition so  
I'll swim as the water rises up, the sun is sinking down  
And now all I can see are the planets in a row  
Suggesting it's best that I slow down  
This night's a perfect shade of dark blue  
_-'Dark Blue' by Jack's Mannequin

Ichigo giggled, walking through the doors of the café, with a frustrated Ryou following behind her. "Oh, lighten up, Ryou, it's just a little mud," she told him, somehow finding this whole situation quite amusing.

Ryou, on the other hand, wasn't so thrilled. "I'm actually surprised you're not running around freaking out, whining in that high-pitched voice of yours," he muttered, immediately walking up the steps to his room. "Not to mention, you're the idiot that got us in this mess."

"Hey!" She shouted out to him, quickly following behind him. "I'm not an idiot and it's not my fault! You're the one who knew about the broken piece, you should have said something before!" She knew she was right, which was a cool thing, considering she always made a fool of herself with Ryou's little remarks, but she was certain she made a good point. The fact was even proven as Ryou simply walked into his room without saying a word in reply. She sighed. "The only thing is, I have to take yet another shower."

"That you do," he said, once again, slipping out of his shirt, not caring much about Ichigo's presence.

Instead of her usual freakout, she just rolled her eyes. "Don't you have any modesty, whatsoever?" She still did turn a little red from the sight, considering she wasn't so comfortable with shirtless Ryou just yet, but she had already begun to figure that Ryou's habit of constantly stripping down--a statement more strong and dramatic than it really was--around her wouldn't die out anytime soon.

"Of course I do. But you've seen me do this numerous times already so I figured the shock would have worn off by now. If you have a problem—leave," he told her, pushing her into the bathroom. "Now, take off those clothes."

Ichigo's face turned a dark tone of crimson, hearing the words. Wrapping her arms around herself protectively, she walked backwards away from him. "N-nya!? No, no, no, no! I will not! I refuse to! Never! Never!"

Ryou just blinked at her, before raising an eyebrow in amusement. He finally formed a smirk, inching closer to her with each step she took backwards. Finally, her back hit the wall of the bathroom, as Ryou placed a hand on the tile near her face. "Never, hmm?"

She bit her lip, staring up at him, as his face neared closer. He wouldn't ... try anything, would he? Why did he have to be so close to her? She let out a small whine, shutting her eyes tight, quickly holding her hand up in front of her defensively. "No!" She shouted, pushing her hand forward.

"Argh!" She heard him say, as she opened her eyes and brought her hand down, seeing the blond hold his hands to his nose. "Gosh, Ichigo. What the heck did you do that for?!"

Well, she didn't mean to actually hit him. Still, she groaned, crossing her arms. "What are you talking about? You're the jerk that tried to put a move on me!" She shouted, filled with frustration at this point.

Ryou rolled his eyes, dropping his hands from his face to reveal a reddened spot on his nose from where she might have let her hand smack. "Seriously, Ichigo, you're such an idiot. Think about it. Why would I ever want to actually 'put a move' on_you_?"

"Eh--" Her voice cutting off, as her eyes widened. She reached over, whacking him over the head, causing him to let out a wince. "What's that supposed to mean!? What's wrong with me, huh? Are you 'too good' to be attracted to someone like me now?" Her face was growing a deeper red from slight anger. After all, maybe she wasn't a top beauty or anything, but why would he make it seem like she was so below him in terms of worth.

He rubbed the top of his head, glaring down at her. "What are you going on about now!? What is it with women and never making themselves clear? Do you _want_me to make a move on you now?" He rolled his eyes again, already turning around to walk out, not awaiting an answer from her.

"No, but you could at least--" She slammed a foot on the ground. "Hey, don't you walk away from me now!" she shouted to him, taking a bar of soap from the counter, throwing it at the back of his head, hitting successfully.

The hit caused Ryou to turn around once more, but he certainly wasn't happy. "Would you stop hitting me?! I didn't do anything to you, you baka strawberry!" He leaned down to grab the bar of soap from the floor and slammed it back on the counter. "Now, stop whining, hurry up and take a shower, cause I still need to take one too," he ordered, and once again, he wasn't waiting for an answer and stepped out, adding, "And be careful with that sliding door, it gets stuck every now and then," before closing the bathroom door behind him before she could speak up again. "Now the idiot gave me a migraine," she heard him mutter from behind the door, sensing him walk away, probably to take a tylenol or something.

Ichigo stood quietly for a moment, keeping her eyes on the door. It wasn't long, however, before she began to groan, waving her hands about through the air. "Ugh, he's a jerk! The master of frustration! The king of meanness! The ruler of pure torture! How was I even considering he was a nice guy!?" She kicked the wall out of anger, but hurt her foot in the process.

"Oww!" She winced, taking her foot in hand. As the minute passed, the red from her cheeks began to fade just as her mind began to relax. Finally, she let out a sigh, letting her body drop to the floor to sit against the wall. "I might have overreacted just a bit. Hmph, he's still a big meanie though."

At this point, however, Ichigo wasn't sure what to think of Ryou. It's not like he wasn't still that same sarcastic guy from day one, who teased her constantly, and considered her to just be a total idiot. Then again, over the past few hours, she had begun to see a difference in his character. He wasn't so bad to talk to, and if given a little push, he actually became kind of fun to hang around with.

She giggled, thinking on karaoke and photobooths, along with falling off the café roof. So far, the day had been quite adventurous and one wreck was happening after another, but she was enjoying herself.

Of course, losing Masaya wasn't exactly the highlight great moment of the day. And she still couldn't get why he had let her go because of Ryou. Maybe he wasn't the worst guy there was, but she didn't see why she'd have "feelings" for him. He was still a total jerk and even if he did only joke, she still did find him to be a pervert. So why'd she lose the person she loved just for what could only be a possibility?

What was Masaya thinking?

Realizing she was still covered in mud, Ichigo got back on her feet, stepping over to the shower. She turned the knob, letting the water pour out from overhead. She brought a hand under it to test out the temperature, quickly bringing it back out from the coldness. Taking a hold of the knob again, she tried to turn it to warm up the water, but then stopped.

"Huh?" She blinked, trying to turn the knob again, but it failed to budge. She pouted, letting it go. "Now that's not good. Ryou must've broken it earlier," she thought out loud. Now, of course, it wasn't like it was _her_fault. It was obviously that jerk's.

She made another attempt to turn it, but it failed once more. "Ryou!" She called out, as she continued pulling on the knob. However, there was no sign that he had heard her. That, or he was annoyed, and was choosing to ignore her. However, he really had no right to be, since he was the one who had been a perv, asking her to undress. "RYOU!" She shouted more loudly this time. Even if he was angry with her or whatever, he was his bathroom, so he should have been the one fixing it.

Suddenly, the bathroom door burst open and Ryou ran in. "Ichigo, what the hell—argh!"

"What do you think you're doing!? You can't just come running in here!" Ichigo shouted after having thrown a towel in Ryou's face.

He pulled the towel off, looking at her with eyes of shock and pure annoyance. "You're the one who called me in here!"

"Yeah, but you could've knocked first though! What if I was naked or something!?"

"If you were naked, you wouldn't have called me to come in the first place."

"Well, maybe I would've, considering I'd expect you to knock on the door first."

"Knock!? You were screaming for me, so it could've been an emergency! Damn it, Ichigo, I thought something happened to you!"

"Well, I—huh?" Ichigo stepped down from shouting, looking at the blond's angry face. It was probably the first time she had really seen him look at her with those kind of eyes, and wondered if maybe she had gone too far just now. But the way he had stormed in just now, had he been ... ? "Were ... you worried?"

Ryou blinked at her, as his face slowly changed to form a light tint of red on his cheeks. "That ... I ... of course not. I just needed to make sure you didn't go ahead and break something," he said, crossing his arms, glaring at her. "What'd you want anyway?"

Break something, eh? "Um ..." She gave a nervous laugh. "Well, the knob for the water, it kind of ... um ... well, it doesn't exactly turn."

Ryou sighed. "So you did break something."

"I did not!" She denied, pouting. "It was probably you from earlier today. It was already like that when I got here."

"If it was already like that, then how were you able to turn on the water?"

Hmm. Well, he certainly had a point there. Darn him for being a genius. "That's just—just fix it, Ryou!" She crossed her arms, realizing that she probably was the one at fault this time around, but trying her best to keep from admitting that.

He gave a sigh, along with rolling his eyes, revealing his usual annoyance of Ichigo's random moments of stupidity. Still, he moved past her, leaning over into the shower to take the handle in attempts to loosen it. "Geez, Ichigo, what the heck did you do to it?"

She didn't answer, not really having much to say as a comeback, knowing she wouldn't win. Instead, she simply stood to the side, watching him try to work the handle, still failing to make a change, before he finally stepped inside the shower in order to get a closer look at what needed to be done.

"Doesn't look like it can be moved at this point," he said with a sigh. "I'll go and call to get it fixed and then—Ichigo?"

Going into the shower behind him, she pushed him lightly to the side and took hold of the handle. "Aren't you supposed to be a genius and all? And you can't even fix a shower handle?"

"Well, there's a difference between science and bathroom appliances, Ichigo."

"If we both pull it together, we might be able to loosen it."

Ryou raised an eyebrow to that. "Teamwork, huh?" He gave a chuckle, grabbing the handle with her. "I guess it's worth a shot."

Ichigo nodded, a little surprise he agreed so easily with her. "Okay, on the count of three. One, two, three--"

The two began to pull to the side, using all their strength to move the handle, but it barely gave a budge. Even when Ryou let go, giving up on the plan, Ichigo continued to pull. But due to the moisture of water on the handle, it grew to be slippery, causing her to lose grip of the handle, falling backwards.

"Ichigo!"

She held her arms out as she fell, attempting to hold on to the sides to keep herself up, but when her hand landed on the door, it slid back to a close, as she fell against the back wall of the shower.

She gave a slight groan, rubbing the back of her head which had received a light hit. But the slight pain felt like nothing compared to her surprise when she saw Ryou kneel down in front of her, looking with worried eyes. "Are you hurt?" he asked in a soft voice.

She didn't answer immediately, and how could she? Was that even Ryou talking? It was his voice, but it definitely wasn't his usual tone. It was as though he had transformed into another being in just an instant. What about the sarcastic comments and the 'Gosh, Ichigo, you're such a clumsy idiot' and whatnot?

"I-I'm fine," she managed to let out, staring at this sudden kind-hearted Ryou. She knew she had seen that soft look before, but she couldn't place her finger on it. It was familiar and comforting, but somehow she sensed something was a bit off about--"Oww!"

He flicked her forehead, with a glare now replacing his rare look of worry. "You idiot!" Oh, there it was. "What did I tell you about the door!?"

Oh, that's right. It really wasn't the first time he looked at her like that. But remembering now, it always did end up with him really thinking of her as just an idiot who did pretty much everything wrong. That's what she had sensed coming. Same old Ryou.

"Door? What about--?" She watched him stand back up and pull on the sliding door handle. It didn't budge.

"I told you to be careful with it. It gets stuck sometimes. And guess what? Now we're stuck in here."

So now the door wasn't opening? What was with all these things getting stuck? And now _they_ were stuck too? "Whaa!? No way! We can't!" She hopped back up on her feet in a surprisingly quick motion, immediately attempting to pull own the shower door. Fail. "No, no! This is a joke! How could we be stuck in _here_!?"

Ryou, of course, wasn't panicking as she was, and simply leaned back against the wall, arms crossed as usual, in his typical calm manner. "That's not the worst of it," he said, and before she could ask, he pointed down.

Looking to where his finger pointed, all she saw was water rising up around their ankles. "What, it's just water--" She stopped. Around their ankles? That didn't make sense for there to be so much water, unless the drain was clogged. Oh no. "The drain's clogged!?"

"Seems so."

"What are you so calm for!? We're gonna die in here, aren't we!?"

Ryou rolled his eyes at her. "We're not gonna die, Ichigo."

"Of course we are! We're gonna drown eventually, all cause you, despite having enough money, have been too lazy to get your bathroom fixed!" She groaned, looking around for something to just throw at him to make herself satisfied in this fit of anger. But the soap bar had been left outside and he was blocking the shampoo bottles.

During her distraction, another flick came to her forehead. "Relax, will you? Breathe a little."

Though the last thing she wanted to do was listen to his orders, she did take a deep breath, which did manage to relax her nerves a little, although ever so slightly. But she couldn't help but realize just how tired she was. It had already been quite a long day, even if it wasn't even sundown yet and maybe most of the running around and crazy stunts were done on _her_ account, but all she had wanted now was a warm bath to relax her mind and take a break, but even now, it was more like her head was on the brink of explosion.

"How could you tell me to relax? This is_your_fault!" Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating. It wasn't _all_ his fault, though she couldn't see why he couldn't have fixed his bathroom much earlier if he had already sensed it was falling apart, especially him being a guy who was always on everything's case and keeping things in order. But then again, he made the day more of a hassle than it originally could've been with his kissing dares and so on.

Of course, she was the one who ended up agreeing to it, and even brought up the idea of actually spending the day together, but was that really it? Did she bring the mess of today upon herself?

"My fault!? I _warned_ you about the door, Ichigo. And you're the one who broke the handle for the water, so don't go pointing fingers."

"Oh, so you think I just purposely tripped to close it? And I couldn't have broken it unless it was already in a condition that would have it be easily broken, so it's still your fault for not having it fixed earlier!" She shouted.

She took back considering not blaming him for everything. He was always like this, messing with her head and her life and then making her seem like the biggest idiot. What the heck was his problem anyway?

"And when did the water get up here so quickly!?" She looked down, feeling the water already very much above her knees. She couldn't have been complaining for that long, so in what time did it happen to get so high up? "Gosh, I just don't--"

She stopped, feeling a warm touch on her cheeks. She blinked her eyes, catching Ryou staring at her, holding her face in his hands. "R-ryou?"

There was that expression again. But somehow, it wasn't like before. She didn't sense that he'd flick her forehead or call her an idiot or anything of that sort. This time, he was just watching her, not as if he was worried like before, but just watching, almost as if she was all there was in his eyes at that instant.

The water was at her hips now, but she didn't even take the time to think about it. Her eyes were on Ryou now, whose expression still made her wonder. That wasn't the sort of look people just casually gave at any moment. It was the sort of look you'd only give to someone you truly cared about, something you lov—but no. What could she be thinking? This was Ryou.

She could feel her cheeks growing hot for some reason or other, which was odd, considering the water was pretty cold, and she should have been freezing right about now. It made her wonder if Ryou could feel the heat from the cheeks, but she couldn't really tell what he was thinking at the moment since all he did was stare at her without changing his expression.

She finally noticed just how close his face actually was to hers, which caused her to blush even more than she had before. Was he going to kiss her? It wouldn't exactly be a surprise since they did happen to be in the middle of a bet and all, and he had already kissed her—what--fourteen times already? This, of course, counting the time she had kissed _him_, which she still couldn't figure out what made her do so in the first place.

Oddly enough, thinking about how she had kissed him before, and seeing his face so close up at the moment, made her actually feel the need to kiss him _now_. Something she definitely would not do, especially after swearing so much that she wouldn't repeat past actions. But it wasn't exactly easy to resist with him so close to her right then, all the while as he looked at her with such soft eyes.

"D-don't look at me like that," she managed to choke out, since not being able to think straight. But his hands did not move and his face didn't turn away. "It's all still your fault, so don't think you can just turn things around on me and mess with my mind like you always do. Don't think you can just manipulate me with that face. It won't work! Because I hate you! I hate everything about you! I hate you! I hate--"

Despite her words, Ryou pulled her into a kiss. And as if she had been taken in by an instant, Ichigo didn't resist, only pulling him closer.

She knew everything she had just said was a lie, and even if she denied it, she knew she didn't _want_ to resist. And she knew she didn't hate him. Oh, no, it was all far from hate, even if she did get annoyed by certain things he did and said. Exactly what it was she felt though, she didn't know. It wasn't love, that was for certain. Her feelings were far beyond anything similar to her feelings for Masaya, which was sweet and peaceful and just loving. With Ryou, it all somehow felt adventurous and unpredictable and just ... she suddenly really just wanted to be kissing him.

Feeling the water at her stomach, she wondered her feelings were just an effect of it—the water, that is. After all, she remembered back at the beach when they were swimming, he had kissed her and she hadn't resisted there either. But that hadn't been the only time, was it?

There were plenty of moments were she had given in to his kisses, thought about kissing him, and had even went ahead and done so. Time and place had nothing to do with it. It was just her.

But why?

Just then, a crack was heard, causing both to pull apart from one another. Turning to the shower door, they could see a crack in the glass, slowing growing within seconds. And that could only mean one thing.

Being a quick thinker, Ryou pulled Ichigo close to him and grabbed tight onto the water handle. "Hold on," he told her, just as the glass finally gave a louder crack and before Ichigo could even tell what was happening, the door had been broken and water poured out of the shower and into the rest of the bathroom.

She held onto Ryou close, as he held onto the handle tight, keeping them from falling out with the water. With her face kept against his chest, she couldn't see the whole scene, but soon enough, she heard the final swooshes of the water rushing out and then there was silence.

"Looks like it's open now," Ryou spoke, causing Ichigo to lift up her head to see the results. The shower door was completely gone now and the floor was completely covered with numerous giant puddles of water.

"Well, that's--" Ichigo turned red, moving away from Ryou immediately, having realized she had been holding onto him while he was shirtless. "T-that's a relief."

Ryou just snickered, pulling on the water handle which finally turned, stopping the water, probably having been loosened from Ryou having held onto it so tightly during the rushing water scene. "You caused quite some trouble here, Momomiya. The money for repairs will be taken out of your next paycheck, mind you."

"Nya!?" She shrieked with shock. "But I didn't do anything, you jerk! I told you, it's your fault for not fixing this sooner!"

He stepped out of the shower, casually, walking out of the bathroom. "I feel another migraine coming along. Must you screech so loudly, you little evil kitten?"

Ichigo gave a groan, following behind. "Don't you walk away from me! And who are you calling 'little evil kitten', you big meanie!?"

And so, for a good few minutes, the two went along arguing as they normally did. But no matter how many offensive comments they gave one another, Ichigo knew things were definitely different now, and that kiss had shown that.

So even if it was in his small, cramped shower which they did manage to escape from, she knew it was already too late for herself, even if she still couldn't understand what it all had meant. But she knew for sure, she had already sunk into the deep blue, which despite the title's sake, was far from perfect.

What had she gotten herself into?

**-End, Part XV.**

Blarghudfsdf. I don't know what to say. It was a very disorganized chapter, and I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what could have been going on in Ichigo's head. Most of it probably makes no sense, cause it really doesn't make too much sense to me. But I guess it kind of went okay. Maybe.

By the way, the general idea of getting stuck in the flooding shower was taken from an episode of "I Love Lucy", which I actually saw for the first time in some cheap Spanish soap opera that took the idea themselves, though they actually did a funnier and better job at it than I did.

Next chapter is "invincible; unrivaled". Interpret as you will. I have no hints, cause well, I don't really have the best idea of where to go now, though I do have some ideas, but they are bound to change. When will this next chapter come out? I really don't know. But hopefully, it will happen in less than six months. HOPEFULLY, it'll happen in less than two. We'll see.

Eh, back to the cliffhanging voice of d00m!? WHAT _has_ Ichigo gotten herself into? WHO thinks Ichigo's just in denial and she really is in love with Ryou? WHEN will she just stop kidding herself and admit to that? WHY did this chapter end up going from what I planned to be fun and exciting to some crappy dramatic love mess? WHERE is Carmen Sandiego and those writing streaks I used to have that she keeps stealing from me? HOW long will I actually take this time around to do the next chapter despite my wishes to get it done quicker? STAY TUNED NEXT TIME, whenever I get around to writing it, for the sixteenth chapter of, dun dun dun, THIRTY KISSES!


End file.
